The 1960s children’s television show Stingray always began with the assertion: “Anything could happen in the next half-hour!” What was true of science fiction half a century ago appears to apply to modern British politics today.

Over the Christmas party season, Westminster chit-chat has been dominated by speculation around the extraordinary unpredictability of events. There are as many theories about how Brexit will or will not unfold, the anticipated length of tenure of the prime minister and the timing and outcome of the next general election as there are individuals willing to proffer them.

The accepted wisdom is that uncertainty and unpredictability in the arena of politics are highly deleterious to the economy. The reasoning goes that if businesses don’t have some very broad sense