With a general election probably coming next year, most Britons expected Chancellor of the Exchequer Reginald Maudling to produce a bonanza budget designed to spur the lagging economy and win back the voters who have drifted away from the Tories in recent months. But hard-headed Maudling. 46, was determined not to risk a burst of inflation that might bring back the old familiar balance-of-payments problem and weaken the value of the pound sterling abroad. Between stagnation and never having it so good he chose a middle road.
It was indeed Britain's first deficit budget since 1947, but instead of glittering, across-the-board tax...