The government has discovered a record amount of currency down the back of a massive sofa kept in an underground warehouse near Downing Street.
'This is a windfall for our national balance of payments' said one minister. 'We were really beginning to worry about how to pay off our debts this year, but luckily, after a good rummage, we found loads of spare coins.'
Much of the money is in ten and fifty pence coins with a few notes. Some is stuffed in brown envelopes. There is also a collection of old buttons and a key that no one knows anything about and doesn't appear to unlock anything.
'The fluff alone could pay for the BBC well into 2023' the minister added.
No one is sure about the origins of the sofa. Some believe it was brought in by Churchill who liked to use it for sprawling on and eating cheese sandwiches. During lockdown, ministers used it for jumping up and down on while quaffing champagne and laughing at proles.
'We believe this is how some of the coins ended up there', the minister continued. 'We do have a lot of angry pensioners saying the money belongs to them but that always happens when you find some spare cash doesn't it?'