In announcing that Wednesday’s autumn statement would be the last (at least until a future chancellor decides to reinstate it), Philip Hammond abandoned one recent tradition. He has, however, established another. This is that when he presents and responds to new forecasts from the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) — as he will be required to do twice a year — it can be guaranteed that a storm of criticism will be unleashed.

In this toxic post-Brexit-vote environment, we have already had plenty of prattle, as some Tory MPs and unnamed ministers queued up to attack the OBR for predicting that Brexit would mean somewhat slower growth and significantly higher debt and deficits. Most of those attacking, I suspect, will not even have opened