Cleverly, who started his new job yesterday, must have wondered what he has let himself in for, working with people who can’t tell the difference between Brandon Lewis and Chris Grayling.

Lewis was brought in to replace former coal miner Patrick McLoughlin, who betrayed his National Union of Mineworkers comrades by scabbing the 1984-85 national strike and is blamed by Tory colleagues for the party’s embarrassing setbacks in last year’s general election.