And so the spectre of directly elected mayors raises its head again.

Ever since the dawn of Boris's capital glory, there has been a love affair between the Tories and the mayoral system that could rival Romeo and Juliet – although I suspect the ending could be messier. Now it is the turn of chancellor George Osborne to try to convince our great northern cities that a mayor is just the thing to boost democracy and the local economy, as part of his speech on building a Northern Powerhouse.

The idea is that with better transport links, investment in science and technology, and strong local democracy, Manchester and its surrounding area – which seems to be ‘the North' as far as the chancellor is concerned – will suddenly become a strong economy to rival London and the South East.