More than 2,000 people were waiting for King Edward VIII at the abandoned steelworks of Dowlais in South Wales on 18 November 1936.

Ten months into his reign, the glamorous young monarch surveyed the desolation all around him and muttered the immortal words: ‘Something must be done.' His phrase has been the mission statement of politicians from the left and paternalist right ever since. They have no idea what, but something – anything – must be done, and it must be done by government, and it must be paid for by you and me.