It seems that the prime minister has lost the battle of the Budget, as he signalled that Britain would not be announcing nor pushing for a fiscal stimulus, after the failure of a gilt auction underscored concerns about the impact of further borrowing. The rift appears to have been healed between Mr Brown who has consistently backed a global stimulus plan, and Alistair Darling and bank of England governor Mervyn King who said there wasn’t enough money for a second wave of tax cuts of public spending.