It was Harold Macmillan who famously coined the phrase ‘events, dear boy' to describe the elephant traps that strew the path of every government. But the potential closure of the Port Talbot steelworks is not in this category even though it appeared to catch the business secretary on the hop on a trip to Australia. The problems of the UK steel industry have been well-documented for years.

Where the Government is at risk of coming unstuck is by being caught out not practising what it preaches. George Osborne is hardly ever photographed without his hard hat and yellow high-vis jacket to show how much he cares for manufacturing, yet the steel industry has been burdened with high electricity costs and business rates that penalise investment in plant. Now ministers are reduced to telling the public sector to buy British steel as if this will save Port Talbot.