Britain's prime minister, Gordon Brown, who as chancellor of the exchequer presided over the biggest boom and bust in British history while promising financial "prudence for a purpose," spent, lent, or otherwise guaranteed about 40 percent of British GDP to save the banks and even more to stimulate the economy. When the Brown government lost the election to Conservative David Cameron in May 2010, Cameron's party had spent the last two years trying to convince voters that it would not slash social spending and would actually be better than New Labour at providing public services.

Mark Blyth, Austerity, loc. 169