General · 1 December 2025
OBR chairman quits after budget leak error
Richard Hughes resigned as chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility after the watchdog accidentally released Chancellor Rachel Reeves' budget analysis 45 minutes before her parliamentary speech. The leak occurred due to WordPress configuration errors allowing early access to sensitive forecasts. Hughes took full responsibility for what investigators called the worst failure in OBR's 15-year history, describing it as a serious breach that undermined parliamentary procedure.
Reported by Bloomberg · How we write briefs