Alistair Darling greeted the Financial Times in the office that Gordon Brown occupied for so long on the second floor of the Treasury building on Whitehall. But the contrast between incumbent and predecessor could not be more striking.

The most powerful chancellor in postwar British history has departed to start his new political life at Number 10. In his place is one of the new prime minister’s closest political allies – one who is loyal and immensely experienced, but who is bound to strike a more consensual tone in the job.