And there you have it. That pretty much sums up where things are going with the Tory government in the UK.
The government department that considers itself responsible for delivering growth across the economy is to become the first Whitehall operation to feel the pressure of the Treasury's job axe.
The 3,000 staff employed by Vince Cable's Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) will next week be told of a voluntary redundancy programme to cut part of the £38m of administrative costs as ordered by George Osborne.
Up to one in four staff in some BIS operations could be at risk, according to sources who say civil servants in Cable's department are readying themselves for savage cuts.
Officials insisted that rumours of 25% headcount reduction across the entire department were wide of the mark and pointed out that when the predecessor department, the Department for Trade and Industry, made cuts in 2005 some 8% of the workforce left. If that was replicated this time at least 240 jobs could be on the line.
