On the day he received 100,000 coupons from Daily Express readers demanding an immediate reduction in the tax, it was a typically mean-spirited response.

But there are several problems with Gordon Brown citing the state of the public finances as an excuse to keep taxing motorists into oblivion.

The first is that all his boasts of prudence down the years are shown to be bare-faced lies. He let public spending run out of control and failed to save for a rainy day during the years of high growth.

Equally, Mr Brown’s claim to have ended the cycle of “boom and bust” is exposed as nonsense. If he cannot afford to lighten the tax burden on families whose incomes are under massive pressure, then the UK economy must be bust.

But the most gaping hole in his argument is that it has not occurred to him to force the State to do its share of belt-tightening.

He is still pouring billions into such “prestige” projects as the 2012 Olympics, still bankrolling vastly expensive public sector pension schemes and still presiding over a benefits culture that wastes enormous sums on the feckless.

Mr Brown’s message to Middle Britain is that he cannot afford to cut fuel duty. Middle Britain’s reply to him is that he cannot afford not to. He would be well advised to heed it or he will be on the wrong end of a drubbing at the next general election.