Battling the pandemic, Prime Minister Boris Johnson suggested last year, was going to be a bit like ‘whack-a-mole' – with local flare-ups standing in for the furry creatures.

Nearly 18 months later, he – and more particularly his chancellor – are again being run ragged, this time squashing public spending pressures that keep popping up. Who would have imagined ministers writing a nice cheque to persuade an American company to carry on producing fertilizer?