In 2014, the Prime Minister was asked by former head of the European Council how he intended to handle his country’s rising Euroscepticism. Cameron answered him by comparing the debate over Europe with the forthcoming Scottish referendum campaign. He said: “I will win that easily and put to bed the Scottish question for 20 years. The same goes for Europe.”

Such courage, such confidence. Such misplaced vanity. Cameron struggled to win the Scottish referendum – and that was a contest in which he reluctantly admitted his unpopularity and stayed out of view. By contrast, he decided last year to throw the entire weight of the Government behind the EU Remain effort.

Because Labour is distracted by infighting over (a privately Eurosceptic) Jeremy Corbyn, and the Lib Dems have been reduced to three men and a libidinous budgie, Cameron immediately became the political brains and face of Remain. Which means that in the public’s mind, a vote to stay in the EU is a vote to validate David Cameron – at the very moment when he is at his least appealing. Tax credits, disability benefits, the resignation of Iain Duncan Smith, the junior doctors strike, etc: whether you regard these things as innocent mistakes or proof of villainy, they all give people reason to vote for Leave in order to punish its most important champion. And with new revelations about the Cameron family's financial arrangements, the champion looks more and more vulnerable.