Now Gordon Brown has been found out, the Tories should think twice about copying him

Gordon Brown’s detractors have long argued that he deserves to be ranked not among Scotland’s economic geniuses but alongside its most notorious confidence tricksters. His great achievement as Chancellor was not to build a great economy, but to create the unshakeable impression that he had done so. He has succeeded, brilliantly, in claiming credit for the economic growth and lower interest rates which — in fact — were common to most developed economies over the same period. Yet he is no more directly responsible for these economic blessings than the conman Arthur Ferguson was for Big Ben (which he ‘sold’ for £1,000 in 1924).

This is not necessarily a bad thing. The capacity to boost confidence is the key attribute for any Chancellor and Mr Brown left the Treasury as perhaps the greatest master of this particular art. And the intricate Potemkin Village he has carefully erected has indeed survived Labour’s decade in power.