When Pilkington, the British glassmaker, agreed to a bid from its largest shareholder Nippon Sheet Glass in 2006, barely a peep of protest came from UK politicians or public about the transfer of a historic British industrial company into foreign ownership.

Still, there was an undercurrent of concern. A flotilla of big blue-chip British groups – Allied Domecq, BPB, BOC, P&O – had recently succumbed to foreign bids and the London Stock Exchange was under siege from Nasdaq. Where the British market in corporate control was wide open, other countries were declining to open up, or were slamming down the protectionist shutters. What about reciprocity, some critics complained?