Napoleon dismissed Britain as a nation of shopkeepers. George Osborne’s bid to make it easier for Chinese tourists to come on shopping trips to the UK at least proves that retailers’ fortunes weigh heavily on the government’s mind.

The move is part of a broader initiative to help British business do more business with China, a country that is now the world’s largest buyer of foreign goods and services behind the US and the EU. The UK has won only 1 per cent of this market, far less than its 3 per cent share of world trade. It does not help that China’s imports are skewed towards goods that Britain does not make. Germany, which specialises in industrial gear needed to get the country’s factories humming, has done much better. But that is not the whole story. The UK wins less Chinese custom than countries such as France, Brazil and Angola. According to UK Treasury calculations, British exports to China would triple if it won the same share of Chinese product markets as it does in the corresponding global ones.

Part of the problem has been the UK’s refusal to play the obsequious merchant. Beijing last year declared itself “hurt” when David Cameron met the Dalai Lama in public. His predecessors courted China, but also lectured it about human rights and pollution. The charm offensives launched this week by George Osborne, the chancellor, and Boris Johnson, mayor of London, signal a more pragmatic approach.