Some Conservative MPs want Philip Hammond fired. Others want Boris Johnson ditched. But most unite to agree that the cabinet, the Commons and the Conservative Party itself are all better off for being rid of George Osborne. His transformation from chancellor and prime minister in waiting to Tory outcast who no longer even sits in the Commons came in two stages.

First, we Brexiteers turned decisively against him when warned that a Leave vote would bring “an immediate and profound shock” that would “push our economy into a recession”. The economy has grown in each quarter since the referendum. Even if it hadn’t, the iron laws of politics would have required Mr Osborne’s departure from the government. Theresa May arranged it in brutal fashion: dismissing