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Mr Doyle has more than a quarter of a century of experience with Labour, beginning as the head of press for the party in 1998, before a brief stint as an adviser to David Blunkett, then the work and pensions secretary.

Lord Blunkett isn't the only one – Jagjit Chadha, Professor of Economics at Cambridge University, has written in The Guardian this week of his scepticism about the value of the fiscal rules.

Both the German parallel and Lord Blunkett's suggestion get short shrift from senior government figures.

Former Labour cabinet minister Lord David Blunkett told the BBC at the weekend he "would like the Chancellor to loosen a little the self-imposed fiscal rules", adding that they amounted to "Treasury orthodoxy…at its worst".

But Labour grandee Lord Blunkett wants Reeves to "loosen a little the self-imposed fiscal rules", calling them "Treasury orthodoxy and monetarism at its worst".