It's as if a memo has gone round to all those campaigning against a hard Brexit for financial services. “At every available opportunity claim that the biggest beneficiary will be New York not Frankfurt.”

You can see why they might think it's a good line. It is widely assumed that one reason EU leaders talk tough on market access for UK-based firms is that they fancy stealing some jobs from London. If the more likely destination for those jobs was New York it might give them pause.