He said the core purpose of his Budget was stability.

And Alistair Darling hammered this message home in a textual analysis of his 7700-word speech.

He used stability 23 times while strength figured just seven times.

His aim to eradicate child poverty and his desire to redistribute money to poorer pensioners and families meant that there were 15 references to families and 31 to children, one of the most used words in his Commons monologue.

While Mr Darling stressed his aim to keep the economy on an even keel, investment and spending were among the most mentioned in his monetary mantra, featuring 31 and 30 times respectively.

Clamping down on gas- guzzling cars and an announcement over a road-pricing consultation meant transport figured 13 times, while health and defence featured just once.

The Chancellor remained committed to establishing the green credentials laid down by his predecessor, Gordon Brown, mentioning carbon, environment and related terms nearly 40 times.

Inflationary pressures remained a key concern for Mr Darling and this was reflected in the the use of inflation 18 times.

Mortgage had a grip on the speech, having been mentioned 17 times as affordable homes was tackled while poverty was referred to 11 times.

But the special relationship did not reflect in speech mentions, with Darling referring to the US just five times. Europe, however, figured on six occasions.