At the Conservative party conference in Manchester, where the chancellor Philip Hammond was extolling the virtues of free markets, the day’s big example of markets at work – the failure of Monarch – did not rate a mention. The airline went into administration hours before Mr Hammond spoke on Monday morning, at the least disrupting the holiday plans of hundreds of thousands of its customers. Some may have been lost altogether. The Civil Aviation Authority, emerging as effective regulator, launched a plan it rehearsed a year ago to rescue passengers who would otherwise be stranded. Aware of the airline’s questionable viability, it had been raising a levy on Monarch passengers that will help fund the rescue. Customers who had booked future holidays must hope they are covered by their credit or debit cards.

This is what the market does so ruthlessly: it destroys the weakest. Monarch’s collapse will allow its rivals to breathe a little easier. More passengers and less capacity means higher prices; the share value of other budget airlines rose sharply on the news.

Monarch was the product of a kinder, gentler age. It was launched in the 1960s as a package holiday pioneer, and traces lingered of the idea of flying as a luxury for the mass market. It had a reputation as a good employer that rewarded hard work. Loyal customers speak fondly of good service and slightly more legroom, but in a market framed only by price competition, it could never match the more aggressive misery airlines. Its already frail business model was further undermined by the terrorist threat in some of its most popular destinations such as Sharm El Sheikh, and it continued to try to function as a tour operator as well as a budget airline. Passenger numbers have been falling, and a £165m last-chance investment from its major shareholder, the private equity firm Greybull Capital, failed to turn round its fortunes. Brexit and the collapse in the value of the pound was the final blow: Monarch’s fuel costs have risen by an estimated 16%.

Nor did Mr Hammond mention the virtues of the market when he confirmed that an extra £10bn would be available for the government’s help-to-buy scheme. Not even he could pretend this will amount to anything other than an unjustifiable bung to developers that will stoke up house prices without increasing supply, making it even harder for the first-time buyer. The chancellor told Tories they could fight Labour by showing how capitalism delivers for all. But, as would be home-buyers know, it doesn’t.