Regardless of how anyone feels about the Square Mile’s rainmakers, it is important to remember that this isn’t 2008. The economic downturn cannot be blamed on a few hundred investment bankers this time around. True, they were only too happy to facilitate the sell-off of swathes of UK plc but many also played an important role in saving lots of companies, whether through emergency cash calls or debt-raisings.

Yet, there is no escaping the unfortunate timing of this year’s bonus round. It doesn’t just underline the government’s failure to act on the cost of living crisis. It is bound to increase a sense among the wider public that a small elite is being shielded from the financial impact of the pandemic while they are effectively having their pockets picked by Rishi Sunak.

The so-called energy bailout is just one example. People aren’t stupid. They know that the Treasury’s support package to alleviate the cost of soaring energy bills is really nothing more than financial sleight of hand. In the words of Keir Starmer, any attempt to dress up a £200 loan that is followed by annual bill rises of £40 over the next five years as a rebate is simply “a con”.

Nor are many people prepared to accept that April’s National Insurance tax hike, which will impose additional tax costs of £255 a year on ordinary working families at a time when they are already feeling the pinch, is either necessary or justified.

Since the tax hikes were announced, the economic picture has darkened considerably. Inflation, interest rates, council tax, energy costs, and petrol prices are all heading in the same direction. It’s not just that Boris Johnson is failing to soften the impact of the cost of living crisis, it is compounding it, while a tiny minority in the Square Mile have never had it better.

Against that backdrop, tax rises would be a hard sell for even the sharpest dealmaker.