Newsnight, followed by Weather

The programme began with the Prime Minister Andy Burnham's warning that the upcoming budget would be challenging, citing the Iran war and the need for difficult decisions. A panel discussed the state of the public finances, with Paul Johnson noting that taxes are already rising and that this decade has seen the largest peacetime tax increases in history, while Treasury sources indicated a very focused budget and a sober atmosphere. Rachel Blake argued for investment in long-term solutions to the cost of living crisis, and Lord Finkelstein said the government faces a genuinely difficult problem that it cannot easily solve. The discussion also touched on whether an early election might be called, with panelists generally skeptical.

A second segment covered Earl Spencer's new memoir, serialised in the Daily Mail, in which he claims King Charles said "rest assured, we will forget her soon enough" days after Diana, Princess of Wales's death. Buckingham Palace responded that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason and colour memory. Former BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt discussed the claim, saying the Palace response was unusual and amounted to "royal gaslighting," and that the King's intervention had boosted interest in the book. He noted the deep tensions over the princes walking behind the coffin in 1997 and that the episode remains painful for the Spencer family.