When Theresa May danced on to the stage in Birmingham, part of me pitied her. It’s not just that she looked deeply uncomfortable as she carried out this demeaning stunt. It’s that she’d clearly convinced herself this was the best way of attracting attention after Boris Johnson’s popular performance the day before. Mrs May’s routine stank of desperation, frankly, and I am still cringing at the memory of it.

As to Mrs May’s speech itself, she read it out perfectly well. After last year’s disaster, simply getting through it was always going to guarantee it would be well received and therefore labelled a success. And so it has proved. The party faithful seemed to love it and London-based commentators were, apparently, equally happy. No doubt someone will label her the new Mrs Thatcher – strong, tough, resilient and so on.

As I have made clear many times, I don’t think that Mrs May has ever have been considered fit to carry Mrs Thatcher’s handbag. She is, by comparison, a political minnow. But I do believe she will now stay put as Tory leader. Her position is almost certainly secure. The last chance to get rid of her was in July, when Boris Johnson made his resignation speech in the House of Commons. And Boris blew it.