WHEN you get it wrong, you should hold up your hands and admit it – and we got it wrong in yesterday's editorial comment when we said George Osborne was not the type to make u-turns.

In fact, he made spectacular u-turns when he delivered his Spending Review. He didn't just phase in tax credit cuts as expected – he scrapped them altogether.

Not only that, but police chiefs nationwide were left open-mouthed when their budgets were reprieved.

Two u-turns in one day – Margaret Thatcher would have been in a state of shock too.

So, one one hand, the Chancellor should be given some credit for bending his spending review in response to public opinion. He listened and u-turned more sharply than anyone expected.

On the other hand, let's not lose sight of the fact that Mr Osborne got it wrong too - and created his own poisonous problem. Tax credit cuts were a serious misjudgement which attacked working families, the political puss was oozing, and the boil needed lancing.

Proposed police cuts had also become toxic in the wake of the Paris attacks and Mr Osborne is a man who desperately wants to succeed David Cameron as Prime Minister. These u-turns were driven by a determination to claim the centre ground, ably assisted by a Labour Party which continues to shoot itself in the left foot.

You could hear the collective sigh of despair for miles around as Labour MPs watched their Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, respond by brandishing a copy of Chairman Mao Tse-tung's Little Red Book.

The opposition is in little red shreds, while the devil remains in the detail of Mr Osborne's review of the nation's finances.

An improved economy may have helped to justify the u-turns but you bet they will have to be paid for. And councils will be the main target.