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Some aides see Healey and Burnham’s Sunday night curry summit as a chance to separate the chancellor from cautious Treasury officials, and get him to kick around the politics. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

Every Sunday night, the chancellor, John Healey, slips next door to Andy Burnham’s Downing Street flat where they order a curry and chew over politics on the prime minister’s sofa.

A takeaway Indian is one of the totemic issues in British politics, a “treat” fewer people can afford, like a pint at the football or soft play for the kids.