It was going to be a major triumph for the Sunak government. ‘My client is a big green tech company,’ the business consultant explained to me, ‘and they were preparing to announce £3 billion of new investment in the UK. But then they saw Rishi Sunak’s speech about rowing back on net zero. So they said: “We can’t be associated with that. We’ll just wait a few months, and then make the announcement with Keir Starmer.” ’
This story partly explains why, next week, Labour will be anointed as the party of British business.