It is easy to forget that when it comes to cutting deficits and aiming for a surplus we have been here before. In fact, about 20 years before, when Ken Clarke was chancellor in the last Conservative government. Not only did Mr Clarke balance the books, but he left a legacy for the succeeding Labour government such that in 2001 the Budget was actually in surplus before a decade of huge spending began.

There was, however, one big difference between now and then. In the early 1990s, as Ken Clarke reminded us this week at a Resolution Foundation seminar in Westminster, he put taxes up substantially, especially on VAT. Critics said his taxes were equivalent to an extra 7p on income tax. To this day Mr Clarke remains adamant that fiscal consolidation, or balancing the books, cannot be achieved without raising taxes.