My straw polls say the ‘leave’ campaign is failing to make a clear economic case

In every gathering, someone — often me — calls for a show of hands on Brexit. And I have to report that, in the varied circles in which I move, ‘leave’ may have the best tunes but isn’t winning the argument. At a Mayfair fundraiser for a Jewish charity, the crowd of mostly thirty-to-fortysomething men in suits (and many in yarmulkes) was 90 per cent for ‘remain’; a former Tory minister was spotted waving both arms in a desperate bid to boost the ‘leave’ minority. In a more mixed crowd of business people at a Budget briefing in Newcastle, the balance was much the same.

At a Sunday lunch in Yorkshire — of the traditional sort at which grace is still said — we were six-a-side until the host’s housekeeper paused from serving to make the casting vote for ‘remain’ because ‘my husband’s job depends on it’. Likewise, in a ski party at Méribel, opinion was divided, shading for ‘remain’.