Given the rollercoaster we’ve all been on, it seems rather fitting that Sir Keir Starmer has unveiled a deal to build a theme park. No doubt there will be many vertigo-inducing rides at Universal’s new Bedfordshire location. But if the prime minister is to make good on his pledge to “seize the possibilities” of the Trump shock, he needs to close the vertiginous gap between his government’s rhetoric on growth, and the reality.

This will take more than a Lord of the Rings castle, and a rehashed announcement on electric vehicles. An administration which came to power promising to be pro-growth has made hiring more expensive, depressed consumer confidence and prompted a catastrophic exit of wealthy individuals to the advantage of our competitors. This week London fell out of the world’s five wealthiest cities. With a strategy for growth heavily dependent on private investment and a dire set of public finances, ministers urgently need to grasp what decisions about investment really involve.

Starmer came into government surprisingly unprepared, wrongfooted by a snap general election, hoping to be a chairman in a role which requires a CEO, and, I was told at the time, worryingly uninterested in the details of the Budget. A big question hanging over Britain’s growth prospects is whether he can grow on the job. Some say he can’t, having come to politics relatively late. Others think he can, after ruthlessly turning around his party. There is already a big difference between the man who won the election and today’s Starmer, frustrated at the slow pace of change and seeking a firmer grip.