Philip Hammond has not had time to develop the self-mythology of a few predecessors. Typically, George Osborne, and before him Gordon Brown, would emerge from 11 Downing Street amidst a blizzard of spin about their economic genius.

It is a modern tradition that can be traced back to the 1980s and Nigel Lawson, whose self-image was way out of proportion to actual achievement; a reputation built on massive North Sea tax receipts and what the late Harold Macmillan described as “selling off the family silver”.

Mr Hammond is less likely to have his spin doctors extol his genius. He is “Spreadsheet Phil”, the earnest chap working quietly beside his Prime Minister, toning down the rhetoric and attempting subtle tacks to his route, always taking account of the economic headwinds before him.

This was described by an economist from the Fraser of Allander Institute yesterday as “probably the most boring Budget in years”. Mr Hammond will take that as a compliment. Given that the May Government’s current tactic is to brazen out any awkward issues – on Europe, Scotland, Ireland, immigration and the rest – his best plan remains to make sure our attention strays as far as possible from the nation’s finances.

So we had some fiddling at the margins. A promise that the government will look at possible tax incentives aimed at encouraging new investment in North Sea oil and gas, or at least the de-commissioning of redundant platforms.

The apparent willingness of the Office of Budget Responsibility – the government’s independent body – to massage upwards the growth forecasts, to two per cent for the current year, is notable. On closer inspection, the figure results from a moving around of assumptions that still conclude that – sooner of later – the economy will be smaller than it was before last June’s referendum on Europe.

Ah Europe. Quite bizarrely, Mr Hammond failed to address Brexit during his hour-long speech. You might almost think it wasn’t really happening. This month Mrs May will write that letter to the EU, triggering Article 50 and all that. Mr Hammond’s talk about a “strong, stable platform” seems risible when we learn also that current borrowing is still remarkably high at £52 billion. We remain £1.7 trillion in debt.

Our trade deficit – a figure that used to be reported in breathless terms way back before Mr Lawson’s fantasy Chancellorship – is in the grubber. In 2016, the UK imported £39.4bn more than it exported. And that is while we are still part of the world’s biggest single market, the EU.

Not only Brexit was ignored. There was nary a word for the “Just About Managing” extolled by Mrs May just a few months ago.

Most mystifying of all was the unexpected decision to put the boot into the self-employed. Their National Insurance contributions are to be pushed up, supposedly in the name of “fairness”. The casual observer might glean that these self employed people have been living it large on the backs of everyone else.

Most of us actually meet the typically self-employed every day: the hairdressers, window cleaners, taxi drivers and plumbers who make your lives a little easier. These are not multi-millionaire entrepreneurs like Sir Philip Green or football megastars like Zlatan Ibrahimovitch.

Many are self-employed not by choice, but by circumstances. Often they have sunk redundancy money into a business or a new van. Many have opted for self employment at various stages in life – from college or university to middle age – because there was no alternative.

The self-employed do not get paid holidays or sick pay. They tend to work public holidays. Often they are at the beck and call of the market, available “24/7” to fix your roof, pick you up, or help your company to meet a deadline when your own staff have taken three weeks off at Christmas. They are part of the so-called “gig economy” that politicians condemn, but do little or nothing about.

There are 250,000 self employed people in Scotland. The Federation of Small Business points out that is around 80,000 more than work for the National Health Service. Yesterday Philip Hammond decided to hit them all for an extra few hundred pounds a year. For good measure, he’s cutting to the bone an allowance on dividends that many use to supplement their annual income.

Upfront, the message was all positive. Steady as she goes, before the Boudicca of Downing Street emerges to do battle with the Euro 27. The clear message is that nothing should happen to undermine the myth of a strong economy and readiness for a hard-nosed negotiation.

Sterling has lost 20 per cent of its value since last June. This would be great if we had a mighty manufacturing sector that made most of its own components as well as its final products – like, say Germany. But we do not. Already Mrs May has been forced to promise car manufacturers like Nissan that she will somehow make up the difference on any losses they suffer on Brexit. All they have to do is say nothing about what deal they have actually secured. This is not a time to scare the horses, or to inspire similar demands from a host of other industries, regions, devolved assemblies, or others who believe they deserve similar exceptional treatment.

The British economy continues to confound observers, said Mr Hammond. Right wing headlines imply that “post Brexit” the economy is booming. They ignore the fact Brexit has not even begun. The central fallacy of this Budget speech was the idea the economy is well equipped for the years ahead, but then again what could Mr Hammond have said? The speculators continue to bet Sterling will fall further, towards parity with the US dollar. Prices are rising, and will continue to do so. Mrs May expects to be out of Europe by 2019. We can only speculate on the effects of the rising cost of food, consumer goods, and holidays abroad upon British public opinion.

We remain billions in the red, testament to the utter failure of the coalition years and Mr Osborne’s futile austerity budgets that hit the weak and did nothing to right the economic balance. Perhaps it is wise of the spin doctors to avoid over-selling the new Chancellor’s credentials – they would much rather we paid him little attention at all.