18 JUNE 1994, Page 26

Dead heat

I SHOULD have guessed it. After years of effort, I succeed in getting the Budget moved out of Cheltenham week. It moves to November, and the Treasury's calendar must change. The bankers' and merchants' dinner, the Chancellor's and Governor's annual double act in the Man- sion House, moves to the summer and falls in Ascot week. Morning coat and top hat clash with white tie and tails, and merchant bank chairmen are left to queue up in the Eastcheap branch of Moss Bros. All my fault. The way of the reformer is hard.