As much as he would like to blame external forces such as the American banking system for Britain’s financial plight. An end to boom and bust, indeed.

When I think back to all his Budget performances, I see only the lost hours of my life that I will never regain.

He would gabble through Budget statements at breakneck speed only to dwell on the word ‘prudence.’ What tosh it all seems now.

VIDEO: WATCH HOW GORDON GOT IT SO, SO, SO WRONG...

We financial journalists were alive to the prospect of stealth taxes, tweaks on National Insurance, the dusting down of old policies as though they were new and all the other sleight of hand.

But with his smirking master Tony Blair behind him, as Chancellor, Gordon Brown gave an impression of competence. Supporting this was what seemed to be an impressive record of economic growth.

We can now see this was built on reckless Government spending, an unsustainable housing boom, and soaring consumer spending. No, he didn’t fix the roof when the sun was shining.

We are set to suffer in the global recession worse than any other major industrial country according to the International Monetary Fund. Yet the Prime Minister continues to preach responsibility to the rest of the world.

At every turn from the raid on the pension funds and the ill-timed sale of our gold reserves to espousing the light-touch regulation that made the Northern Rock debacle possible, the man has got it wrong.

The pity is we are probably going to be made to wait until the last possible date for a General Election - that takes us to spring 2010 to be rid of him.

This is unless his own MPs recognise that the man is unelectable and they stand a better chance of holding to their jobs if they kick him upstairs to keep Lord Mandelson company.

But it won’t save the Labour Party from defeat.