Johnson and Hunt will turn the spending taps on, but austerity is far from over

There is a school of thought that maintains that the size of national debt does not matter, or at least not as much as people think. It goes under the general title of new monetary theory. But it is untested, especially at a time of rising interest rates

The spending taps will be opened – for a bit. Both contenders for the Tory leadership have started to make promises about ending austerity. For Jeremy Hunt it is spending more on defence, cutting corporation tax and so on. For Boris Johnson, it is more – or at least seems to be – a promise of tax cuts for the rich.

It is a familiar feature of the democratic world that politicians seeking election should make promises they will find it difficult to fulfil. But in this instance, there is a twist. Even the outgoing prime minister, Theresa May, wants to spend money to create a legacy of her period of office, though this is opposed by the chancellor.

So is austerity dead? Has it taken the toppling of one PM and the election of another to kill it? Or is this just the usual noise of politics at a particularly chaotic time?