Now he faces open revolt from journalists on the Sun, the paper which laid the foundations of his media empire with its "soaraway" success in the 1970s.

BBC: Eye of the storm

Supporters of tax cuts might argue that we will lose our AAA rating anyway if growth fails to materialize - because even the new, revised and realistic OBR projection has growth at 0.8% this year (it will struggle to meet that) and a combination of consumer spending and a soaraway investment boom from 2013 onwards.

BBC: Double-dip recession: There's always fantasy island