The diplomatic and military consequences of recent events in Salisbury could be truly dramatic. Besides these, economic questions pale into insignificance. Nevertheless, it is

clear that economic considerations do play a part. In particular, it has been alleged that the UK cannot make a robust response to Russia because it is dependent upon Russian money. This is completely false.

It is easy to confuse income, wealth and money. Just because large amounts of Russian money enters the United Kingdom, this does not mean that our income, and hence standard of living, is substantially dependent upon these flows continuing.

Many commentators suggest that foreign investment is vital to a country’s prospects. It isn’t. Admittedly, sometimes it can make a large contribution, but the devil is in the detail.

There have been huge amounts of Japanese investment into the UK, particularly in the car industry and other manufacturing, generally involving the construction of new plants, thereby increasing real investment.

Moreover, Japanese investors have brought management expertise and have both sustained and developed the skills of British workers. This has been a boon.

By contrast, I cannot think of a single Russian investment in the UK that falls into this category. Russian financial flows into the UK are precisely and only that – financial.