Butler's political judgement was affected by the painful illness and death (9 December 1954) of his wife, Sydney. In February 1955, he hiked bank rate and restored hire purchase restrictions. The 1955 budget cut 6d off income tax, allegedly based on faulty Treasury statistics, immediately before Anthony Eden succeeded Churchill as Prime Minister in April 1955. After the Conservatives won the May 1955 general election, Butler declined Eden's request to move from the Exchequer although he later admitted that he should have accepted. In an unfortunate speech on 18 October, he commented that the country must not sink into "easy evenings with port wine and over-ripe pheasant". The "Daily Mirror" commented that he had "dropped his silver spoon upon the polished floor". By now it was apparent that the economy was "overheating" (inflation and the balance of payments deficit were rising sharply). The Cabinet refused to agree to cut bread subsidies and there was a run on the pound. His final budget (26 October 1955) reversed several of the measures from the spring budget, leading to charges of electoral opportunism. Hugh Gaitskell accused him of having deliberately misled the electorate, which amused Macmillan, who wrote in his diary of how Butler was always talking of "honour" in Cabinet. The introduction of purchase tax on kitchen utensils caused it to be labelled the "Pots and Pans" budget. Macmillan was already negotiating with Eden for Butler's job.