Treasury officials claim there was no panic in No 11 before the economic numbers finally turned in their favour

After a rollercoaster week which began with Keir Starmer being asked if he still had confidence in his ­chancellor of the ­exchequer and ended with the stock market ­smashing all ­previous records, the sense of relief ­surging through Downing Street and the Treasury on Friday afternoon ­bordered on elation.

The teams that surround the prime minister and his neighbour at No 11, Rachel Reeves, are made up mainly of untried novices in the hard business of running a government. They are only just learning how quickly moods, including their own, can go from one extreme to the other. “It is weird,” said one. “Truly bloody weird at times.”