Senior figures in the tax world sighed when they heard that the pre-Budget report was to be delivered on the 5 December. The Chartered Institute of Tax is having a grand 75th anniversary reception that night, making it a very busy 24 hours for some of the profession’s most prominent tax people.

Didn’t Gordon know? Couldn’t he have planned around it? The CIOT says the show must go on: ‘It’s too large an event to cancel or change,’ a spokesman says. With 500 people coming on boat trips on the Thames and a visit to Shakespeare’s Globe theatre, the great and the good of the tax world will all be there ­ if a little late, perhaps.

‘The pre-Budget report will be a perfect topic for conversation,’ our man at the CIOT adds, putting a brave face on it.