On Monday Nigel Farage will magic £35bn out of the Treasury to pay all the bills and leave a little bit over for a large round at the Dog and Duck.

The Conservative party appear to have found, according to Mel Stride. a spare £12bn down the crack in the Treasury sofa’s cushions.

Where is this money coming from?

A clue appeared in the FT last week when Chris Giles pointed out that the Bank of England are paying 5 (net 3) % interest on the money held by commercial banks and created for the QE program – the cost of this is £23bn a year.

If there is such a thing as a “victimless crime” in monetary policy, it is in not paying discretionary payments to commercial banks, especially when you still own a big chunk of one. This is real money not being spent by the Treasury, this is not a fudge

I don’t know quite what Farage has in mind but if its £35bn then adding Mel’s £12bn and the FT’s £23bn – you might have a guess.

Fiscal responsibility

Sadly for the Liberals and Labour , they do not hold the keys to the Treasury or (like Farage) imagine they do.

But these rabbits are so plump and so eminently pullable that I wouldn’t be surprised if they could still be pulled from more politician’s hats.

The problem for everyone but Nigel Farage is that the Reform look like they are going to bag the rabbit before anyone else.