Brexit: As Jeremy Hunt attacks businesses the global economy is starting to catch a chill

The strength of the world's economy has protected the Government from the consequences of its mismanagement, but its shelter could be about to collapse under the pressure of a global trade war

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has criticised businesses for speaking out over Brexit (BBC/PA)

No wonder business types are upset. The Tory Party, so long considered their natural home, has gone completely bonkers. The only reason why it’s abysmal performance in office isn’t hitting harder is because of how rosy the global economy has been.

But we’ll get to that after looking at the latest incidence of the “party of business” kicking one of its core constituencies in the teeth.

In the wake of the warnings by companies like Airbus and BMW over the consequences of the current chronic Brexit ‘uncertainty’ for jobs, investment, and their very presence in this country, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt was trotted out onto the Sunday TV sofa to accuse them of making “threats” that he described as “inappropriate”.

This, remember, is a senior figure from a party that urges businessmen and companies to pony up £50,000 each to join its Leaders Club, for the purpose of securing the privilege of whispering in the ears of people like himself.

Presumably that’s ok because, well, the public and the media aren’t around to hear any minister of the crown saying, 'of course we’ll look jolly hard at that' when those among their declining number of business supporters ask if they might have a little look at their tax bills over rubber chicken and chilled Chablis.

I expect Mr Hunt will now want to be among the first to tick the business lobby off when it publicly raises issues with Labour’s economic policies.

It’s no wonder respectable businesses have been turning away from the party while groups like the CBI, the Institute of Directors, and the British Chambers of Commerce tear their hair out.

It’s not just the performance of the lamentable Mr Hunt, or of the Brexiteer ministers who try to tell businessmen what’s good for them without having any real understanding of the issues they face. There are times when the Conservative Party gives the impression that it wants to ditch the centre right in favour of the alt right, a political movement that the business community is understandably extremely wary of.

But be comforted! There are at least 50 or so MPs who have apparently formed a bloc to prevent the sort of hard Brexit that scares the bejesus out of business types, not to mention those of us who rely on the medicines that the government’s own projections predict could be in short supply in such a scenario.

It’s worth reflecting upon the fact that that would have been much easier to do that had Dominic Grieve’s amendment to the Brexit bills passed, as it would have had he and all but a handful of his colleagues been anything more than paper tigers.

So if that's comfort, it's cold indeed.

Which brings us neatly back to the point about the global economy. Even though UK living standards have been flat or falling, the country's economy has continued to grow, and rates of employment remain have remained high, in part because the world's economy has been in the middle of a purple patch.

This has served to help protect the Government from the consequences of its actions, but it is a a shelter that may be about to collapse. Over the weekend, the Bank for International Settlements became the latest body to warn of the potential consequences from the global tit for tat trade wars sparked by US President Donald Trump. The latest survey of German business confidence by the Institute for Economic Research this morning, meanwhile, revealed another fall.

The world's economy is starting to look like it might be about to catch a cold. If it does, Britain is going to find itself in bed with a severe case of the ‘flu.