Who made the shortest ever Budget speech in 1867 lasting only 45 minutes?
Budget Day Gladstone on 18 April 1853 and lasted 4 hours and 45 minutes. The shortest was given by Benjamin Disraeli in 1867 and lasted 45 minutes. It is also a parliamentary tradition that whilst making the Budget Speech the Chancellor may drink whatever he or she wishes, including alcohol which is otherwise forbidden. Past Chancellors have opted for whisky (Kenneth Clarke), gin and tonic (Geoffrey Howe), brandy and water (Benjamin Disraeli), spritzer (Nigel Lawson) and sherry and beaten egg (William Ewart Gladstone). George Osborne, as well as his two Labour predecessors Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown, have opted for water. The
Magic 45 minutes Zealand has a population creeping just over 4,000,000—roughly a fifth of the population of Metropolitan New York—but is internationally recognised as regularly punching well above its weight in international sporting competition. New Zealand has previously won four Olympic golds in a single sport (canoeing) at a single games but that was over two days on Lake Casitas at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. The previous shortest time between winning gold medals was less than an hour when the great Peter Snell (800 m) and Murray Halberg (5000 m) triumphed at the Rome Olympics in 1960. On this magic 45 minutes