Back in 2017, when “strong and stable” was still a campaign slogan and not a laugh line, I sat in on a focus group of undecided voters in Harrow – home to two marginal seats in north-west London. Even then they didn’t like Theresa May much. Assuming she would be an effective negotiator, they appreciated her steeliness – the word “strong” came up twice, as did “Thatcher” and “clever”. But overall they found her unreliable and unrelatable. They described her, among other things, as a “liar”, “headmistress”, “busybody”, “uncaring” and “untrustworthy”.

Three years ago, shortly after I arrived back in Britain after 12 years in the US, my gas meter was stolen. When the new one arrived it bore a note, insisting that it should not be stolen. It reminded me of the poster in the window of the Boys and Girls club at the top of my street in Chicago that read: “Stop killing people.” Some things, should not need to be said.