George Osborne is, once again, drawing fire for his ideological inconsistency. Earlier this week, the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer decided to cap the charges made on high-interest payday loans. How, some have asked, does this square with his criticism of the Labour party’s pledge to freeze energy prices?

You can argue that the government should meddle in markets and you can argue that it should not. But arguing both things at the same time smacks of opportunism.