The quest for low corporate taxes would have curious consequences if pursued too seriously. Directors who relocated to Vanuatu could realise their ambition to spend more time on the beach by holding board meetings there. Salesmen resident in the Maldives could duck and dive for real among coral reefs. Corporate spin doctors based in Gaza would find out what dodging genuine flak was like.

Vanuatu, the Maldives and Gaza have exceptionally low business taxes, according to research by the World Bank and PwC. But they have countervailing disadvantages: remoteness, tsunamis and Hamas gunmen. Tax is just one factor a company considers in deciding where to headquarter itself. Prophecies of an “exodus” of businesses from the UK to countries with lower corporate tax look exaggerated.