David Cameron in his office with George Osborne on the night of Tuesday, May 11, 2010, when he became prime minister

As a pragmatist rather than an ideologue, I have always thought that the most important job for a prime minister is to do their duty — to tackle the most urgent task in front of them, whatever that might be. In 2010 there was absolutely no doubt what that was: to rescue our economy.

For me there’s wasn’t any doubt about how that could be achieved. It doesn’t require a degree in economics to appreciate that if you keep spending faster than the economy grows, and faster than tax revenue grows, eventually you will be in trouble. Which Britain had been doing and now was.

Looking back over our first few months at the helm of Britain’s economy in 2010, what do I think? Did