THERE’S a new book out tomorrow from Will Hutton, author and journalist, formerly principal of Hertford College Oxford.

Thirty years ago he wrote ‘The State We’re In’, which unexpectedly became a bestseller.

In that book he decried the Britain which Thatcher had bequeathed after 18 years.

Going against the prevailing wisdom, Hutton showed that Thatcher’s transformation of the British economy had damaged it and divided society.

Manufacturing was wrecked. Everything was monetised, investment collapsed.

He argued that Britain needed a fair society with high investment where people felt stakeholders in it.

It didn’t happen. Blair took up where Thatcher left off.

Hutton’s new book is called ‘Escaping the State We’re In’.

One of Hutton’s proposals, which couldn’t have arisen 30 years ago, is to find ways to get the UK closer to the EU.

He’s pushing an open door on that one because since last autumn, senior figures in the British government have been openly discussing whether it’s better to join the customs union or the single market.

It seems now that those supporting moving towards the single market have emerged on top.

In yesterday’s Mais lecture (called after Lord Mais, a former Lord Mayor of the City of London and Pro-Chancellor of City University), Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, called for closer alignment with........

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