Treasury staff work in a department that has never been more powerful. It reaches into the very entrails of government in a way that it has not done before. But has the transformation been good for it, good for the Labour government and good for Britain? Could its current dominance represent merely the apogee of empire, its moment of greatest power before a considerable fall?

The answers to those questions are indivisible from an assessment of the chancellor himself, his unique relationship with Tony Blair and key decisions that Mr Brown has taken while in power.