For the UK exchequer, too, the deal marked something of a record.
On Sunday, the chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, described a second referendum, something Mrs. May has refused to entertain, as a "coherent proposition" that deserved consideration.
It has commissioned numerous studies that claim that standardised packs would see an increase in smuggling – something that could deprive the Exchequer of billions of pounds.
The Chancery came to prominence after the decline of the Exchequer, dealing with the law of equity, something more fluid and adaptable than the common law.
"The tax we contribute to the exchequer should be a badge of honour rather than something that we are trying to hide".
"This is not just something which has direct consequences to the Exchequer, costing us all hundreds of millions of pounds, it is also something that has a direct consequence for the workers concerned and that why it is so important we are taking this action".
In fact we pay something like £30bn worth of excise to exchequers all over the world," he says.
Mr Blair suggested something similar in December and Gordon Brown, chancellor of the exchequer and the prime minister's likely successor, is wont to wax lyrical on the importance of Britishness for all.
Alistair Darling, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer under the former Labour administration, said: "This has the seeds of something disastrous.
Given that Gordon Brown is neither a businessman nor a colourful rogue, he is an unusual target for Mr Bower.Yet Britain's longest-serving chancellor of the exchequer, and the man most people assume will succeed Tony Blair, does have something in common with the author's earlier victims.
