To judge purely from Sunday’s newspapers, George Osborne’s weekend fight-back against Labour and internal Tory attacks on his economic policy backfired spectacularly.

As the shadow chancellor took to the Sunday breakfast television sofa, he was confronted by headlines that ranged from “tax cuts by Christmas as Tory poll lead dives” to “Osborne faces storm over warning of run on pound”. The News of the World contrasted “Gord’s £30bn Xmas tax gift” with a mock-up of an Osborne doll with pins stuck into it.