Lord O’Donnell says that tackling the fallout from Brexit, to which he was fiercely opposed, will take up to ten years

It’s often said that Gus O’Donnell, the former cabinet secretary, former head of the civil service, economist and omniscience around four prime ministers, was referred to as GOD. But when we meet he says that is nonsense invented by journalists, and though he has been called “some very rude things”, never God. Americans call him Lord, “because they think Lord is my first name. Lord O’Donnell — ‘Hi Lord, how ya doin’?”.

I had also been told that he would wear jeans, but he is in grey flannel shirt here in Frontier Economics, the consultancy he chairs, with the dewy complexion of someone who moisturises, and possibly juices too. “Wellbeing” is a passion, he says, but as an evidence-based policy wonk, he is quick to