Guido’s old enough to remember when Shell boss Ben van Beurden appeared on-stage at a conference last month and called on the government, quite explicitly, to impose a windfall tax on energy companies. To the delight of Sir Keir, who couldn’t have asked for a stronger endorsement of his flagship policy…

At the time, van Beurden said:

“One way or another there needs to be government intervention. Protecting the poorest, that probably may then mean that governments need to tax people in this room to pay for it. I think we just have to accept as a society – it can be done smartly and not so smartly. There is a discussion to be had about it but I think it’s inevitable.”

As it turns out, van Beurden was right: it was inevitable. Jeremy Hunt obliged and whacked up taxes on companies like Shell last week in the autumn statement. What happened next was just as predictable…

Now Shell’s UK Chief David Bunch says the company’s planned £25 billion investment in UK energy might not go ahead… because of the windfall tax. According to the Telegraph, Shell now “cannot take it for granted” that the plan will go ahead, and they need to “rerun the economics and take a view on a project by project basis.” Be careful what you wish for…