Nowhere was the confidence of the prime minister, Andy Burnham, shown as clearly as in his appointment of chancellor. There were weeks of speculation(数周的猜测) that this appointment was a choice between the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, and the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, with their contrasting political economies.
首相安迪·伯纳姆的自信，在他任命财政大臣一事上表现得最为明显。此前数周，外界一直猜测这一任命将在能源大臣埃德·米利班德和内政大臣沙巴纳·马哈茂德之间产生，两人的政治经济理念截然不同。
It has been a hallmark of Burnham’s politics that he and his team do not get involved in briefing wars, so it was only when former defence secretary John Healey appeared in Downing Street together with Mahmood that it was clear that the prime minister had cut the Gordian knot, reassuring the markets with a cool, calm political operator with extensive Treasury experience as chancellor.(伯纳姆及其团队从不参与泄密战是其政治标志，因此当希利与马哈茂德一同现身唐宁街时，才清楚首相已快刀斩乱麻，任命一位冷静且有财政经验的人为财政大臣以安抚市场。) Healey’s two years in defence meant that he would know both sides of the argument when it came to(当涉及，就……而言) one of the biggest questions of the forthcoming budget: how to meet the bold new Nato defence spending targets without derail(使偏离轨道，打乱)ing the social ambitions of the Burnham government.
伯纳姆及其团队从不参与媒体泄密战，这是他政治风格的一个标志。因此，只有当前国防大臣约翰·希利与马哈茂德一同出现在唐宁街时，人们才明白首相已经快刀斩乱麻，任命一位冷静沉着、拥有丰富财政部经验的政治老手为财政大臣，以安抚市场。希利在国防部任职两年，这意味着在即将到来的预算中最大的问题之一——如何在实现北约大胆的新国防开支目标的同时，不偏离伯纳姆政府的社会抱负——上，他会了解双方的论点。
Just last week, it was revealed that the question of getting the right balance of the competing demands of defence, social care, council housing and devolution would be defer(推迟，延期)red to a spending review next year, and that this October’s budget would be a low-key(低调的，不张扬的), continuity affair. That’s a good thing, because the facts about the Ministry of Defence are stark(严峻的，赤裸裸的) – the stridency(尖声，激烈) of its claims of underfunding are only matched by(只有……能与之相比) its record of overspending(超支). The National Audit Office has a series of reports detailing the failures of the MoD’s control of spending.
就在上周，有消息透露，如何在国防、社会关怀、市政住房和权力下放等相互竞争的需求之间取得平衡的问题，将推迟到明年的支出审查中解决，而今年十月的预算将是一次低调、延续性的事务。这是件好事，因为国防部的事实是严峻的——它声称资金不足的激烈程度，只有其超支记录才能与之相比。国家审计署有一系列报告详细说明了国防部在支出控制上的失败。