When you’re presiding over a flatlining economy, every error is magnified and there is little credit for the things you’re doing right

Rachel Reeves was making her way to Prime Minister’s Questions when we bumped into each other last week. She is now routinely described as “embattled” or – even more dreaded label – “beleaguered”. So I thought it polite to ask how she was feeling. “I’m very well, actually,” she responded and hit me with a smile so wide and beaming that she could find alternative employment advertising toothpaste.

Being chancellor is not just a numbers game. It is as much, if not more, a confidence game. The chief financial officer can never afford to look rattled about the balance sheet or fretful about the vultures circling their position. The more reason they have to feel anxious, the more imperative it is that they look nerveless. That she understands. “It’s a tough gig, but there’s no one tougher than Rachel,” says one of her admirers in the cabinet.