taxation

Away from business taxes, rising individual taxation levels are an issue for Roberts, who says he knows of wealthy people leaving the UK.

But he added that the "huge multibillion cost" meant it had an impact on taxation, traditionally a matter for Parliament, and could "change the decisions the chancellor makes" at November's Budget.

The precise stance it takes on taxation ahead of the next general election, however, is not yet clear.

Rebellious colonists skewered British taxation policies, military blunders and parliamentary pomposities through plays, songs and cartoons that rallied others to the cause of independence and made mass mobilization fun.

But the fear cast by the specters of taxation and modernization that continually threaten Downton, including in “The Grand Finale,” are just as terrifying to its residents as any ax-wielding ghost.