Henry Kissinger once remarked that a White House job should be created specially for Lawrence Summers in which he would have the power to shoot down or amend bad ideas. That job is now, in effect, within Mr Summers’ grasp. As the next head of the National Economic Council, Mr Summers is widely expected to be the chief architect of the administration’s response to the financial meltdown.

As the principal economic adviser to Barack Obama, Mr Summers is likely to be bombarded with questionable ideas including – some people fear – various backdoor protectionist schemes to protect American jobs. The trick, say friends of Mr Summers, will be to shoot them down without killing the messenger.