Most City commentators had been warning in recent weeks that the Chancellor would turn a stony heart to the pub trade and look to the traditional sin taxes in order to eke out his tax revenues.
And certainly, in the run up to last Wednesday's Budget, few Morning Advertiser readers felt he would spare them. So although there was despair at his announcement, there was little surprise.
But does that mean the trade's efforts to persuade Darling to see sense were a waste of time? No. Most definitely not. For when Axe The Tax was launched after the 2008 Budget rises and the arrival of the duty escalator, no one knew the country's finances would be in such an appalling trillion-pound mess by the time the next Budget arrived. No one knew the Chancellor would be in such desperate need of money, from any source, that he would be forced to stick to his 2008 plans.
Consider, also, how pathetic it would have looked had the trade simply rolled over last year and accepted the next four years' rises without a whimper. Especially as licensing minister Gerry Sutcliffe had encouraged the trade to resist the rises in an interview with this paper last April. If the lorry drivers can overturn their escalator rise so can you, were his words of encouragement.
No, Axe The Tax was the right response to the trade's plight. And by getting so many thousands of consumers involved, the trade's lobbyists were also doing the right thing. Governments only respond to issues when they fear losing votes.
The trade needed to enlist consumer power if it was to have any chance of shifting tax policy. It was only that move that persuaded over 200 Labour MPs to back the trade's campaign.
So Axe The Tax was right, even if it failed. But let's get another thing straight. It was not down to Fair Pint's campaign that it failed. To try to blame the campaigners for Darling's decision makes as much sense as, well, to blame the pubcos for every ill bedevilling the trade.
There is no way the Government thought it had better not freeze duty because the pubcos would snaffle all the benefit. Its decision was purely and simply about raising money (even though the rise now means they'll actually end up with less).
That said, the Government could clearly see there are some big issues currently dividing the trade — and that never looks impressive in the middle of lobbying. But even a fully-united trade would have failed when faced with such a black hole in public finances.
The truth is that the only people who are really going to sort out the trade's problems are those in the trade itself. And one big step towards that would be for all sides to accept the ALMR's invite to discuss the workings of the long-term lease.
This is a bold and welcome initiative. Big pubcos must not dismiss it out of hand.