Tony Blair and Gordon Brown are pragmatists at heart. For years, the prime minister and chancellor have been consumed by their disagreement over the timing of Mr Blair?s departure from Number 10. But terrible though this feud has been, it has never pushed them into a fundamental break on a central issue of public policy.

That pragmatism was on display three years ago when the two men agreed the terms on which Britain would stay out of the euro. On Thursday, the division between them, this time over the future of pensions, resulted in the same denouement. Once again, the two men reached a settlement on the biggest issue Labour will tackle in this parliament.