Comment: OK, enough's enough. Let's just call off the budget.

When asked how politicians should act in times of crisis, Boris Johnson declared that his hero was the mayor in the movie Jaws. “He keeps the beaches open, even after it’s demonstrated that his constituents have been eaten by this killer fish.”

“Of course,” Johnson concludes, “he was proved catastrophically wrong in his judgment, but his instincts were right.”

It’s a good joke, but the PM’s instincts really do veer on the side of preventing panic wherever possible.

So he will wholehearted disagree with what I am about to suggest, but here goes.

The Government should postpone the Budget.

Given the speed with which coronavirus has shut down Northern Italy’s industrial heartlands and could do the same here, it is pointless sticking with the March 11 set-piece speech.

Until the epidemic plays out, it is impossible to know how much our economy is going to grow this year, and what tax receipts we have to play with.

Personally, I still feel the markets are massively over-reacting. But that’s far from clear when giants like Diageo are warning that £200 million could be wiped off profits.

Even without the virus, we have an inexperienced Chancellor only a fortnight into the second biggest job in the country. There really is no shame in postponing the thing.

Turn March 11 into a brief confirmation of a few manifesto pledges and save the rest until the spending review and second Budget later in the year.

Let the rest of us spend the day at the Cheltenham Festival. Unless the mayor down there cancels it.