Looking ahead: Chancellor Rachel Reeves
All governments need a share of good luck.
The Tories left Labour unresolved industrial problems such as the fate of Port Talbot, an unwanted Czech bid for Royal Mail and a cash crisis at Titanic shipbuilder Harland & Wolff.
Ed Miliband may be adding to the list with his attack on North Sea oil exploration and Aberdeen jobs.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves, for all her rhetoric about Conservative chaos, is presiding over a much more favourable economy than imagined.
She is being assisted by shifting global tectonic plates. France is in chaos – not helped by the rantings of left-wing party leader Jean-Luc Melenchon who thinks that income tax on the well-heeled should be lifted to 90 per cent.
The US is bedevilled by its own political uncertainty after President Biden’s misspeaks at the conclusion of the Nato summit this week.
Amid this background Britain looks an island of stability and the ‘Truss tantrum’ a distant memory.
A centrist Government, with a big majority, looks to provide an attractive venue for investors. If the currency is evidence of confidence the surge in the pound towards $1.30 must be regarded as a triumph.
Sterling strength helps the Bank of England fight inflation as prices for oil and other commodities, priced in dollars, become cheaper.
Two successive quarters of robust growth, exceeding forecasts, do not constitute a full recovery. But no one can deny a healthy upturn is under way.
This, when inflation is where it should be at 2 per cent with the prospect of a rate cut from 5.25 per cent to come this summer.
Doomsayers enjoy pointing to the broken state of public finances.
The national debt, at more than 90 per cent of national output, is high and borrowing distorted by interest rate costs. When compared to most of the G7 the UK’s budget is in a favourable place. There has been no problem in the financing.
Favourable circumstances, together with the bargain basement ‘London discount’ have made the FTSE 350 and AIM markets a soft target for predators.
Fund managers, including the world’s largest asset manager Blackrock, are upbeat. Pictet Wealth Management says the UK is enjoying ‘a honeymoon period.’
Don’t expect Reeves to do cartwheels but the confidence that a rising pound and a record-breaking stock market bring can only improve growth prospects.
Check mate
Britain is blessed with a plethora of luxury department stores: Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Fortnum & Mason and Selfridges among others.
It lacks, however, lustrous global brands such as LVMH, Hermes, Kering and Richemont. Burberry, known for its trench coats and scarves, comes closest.
Under brilliant American fashion gurus Rose Marie Bravo, Angela Ahrendts and Christopher Bailey it enjoyed a meteoric rise with enormous popularity in China, East Asia and the US through stunning innovation over the last two decades.
Under the current pedestrian leadership of chairman Gerry Murphy – also chairman of Tesco – and chief executive Jonathan Akeroyd it is having a calamitous time.
Partly, this stems from a sub-octane China. But my snitch at the New York store reports more shop assistants than customers and a new collection, including clumpy shoes, which is a hard sell.
As we report today the shares are having a nightmare.
The stock is down nearly 40 per cent this year and the market capitalisation sits at a miserable £3.2billion.
Fear is that the shares could fall even further from the current 886.6p.
A great British totem, dating back to 1856, is in danger of being scooped up by Continental rivals or private equity.
Team spirit
If money alone ruled in football the Three Lions should reign supreme tomorrow.
Research by flashscore.co.uk values the England squad at £1.2billion, with Jude Bellingham valued at £165.3million.
Fellow finalists Spain, who are playing the best football at Euro 2024 according to English coach Gareth Southgate, are worth a mere £783.9m.
That could soar should if the result goes the wrong way.