Philip Hammond's big day. I feel sorry for the fella, as the media has hyped his Budget speech to a ridiculous degree. After a routine morning, I entered the Chamber about 1125 and took my place. PMQs was nothing special and the PM held her ground well. Mr Hammond spoke for about an hour and it was, as we all expected, a cautious Budget. It had to be as there the country is still in a difficult place economically, with a massive debt, whose debt interest alone is about £50 billion. The Budget was well received on the whole, with Stamp Duty being removed for first time buyers. It's a shame Mr Hammond did not go further and remove it altogether. No other fiscal move has caused more chaos in the housing market than Mr Osborne's introduction of this tax. We all warned him at the time. Mr Corbyn then rose to reply. Replying to a Budget cannot be easy, but this one was graceless and at one point he and other Left-wingers lost their temper at one of our Whips who was goaded Mr Corbyn. For a moment the mask slipped and the sheer, visceral hatred of the hard Left was exposed. God help this country if they ever gain power. I sat through the whole of Mr Corbyn's reply, more out of courtesy than anything else. After a quick bite to eat, I attended a confidential meeting about our Armed Forces and the EU. This went on for some time and was most interesting. Being the Budget debate, we were all on a one-line so I managed to get home in time to have supper with my wife.