When Justin Trudeau became Canada’s 23rd prime minister in 2015, he was immediately crowned as the darling of the political Left.

Shortly after his election, Trudeau and his wife posed for a glossy feature in Vogue magazine, portraying him as a youthful, telegenic leader. Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev heaped praise on him at the United Nations in 2016, saying: “I love him. I admire him. He is a wonderful young leader of this planet.”

Following the accession of President Donald Trump, CNN gushed that “Justin Trudeau, ‘the anti-Trump,’ shows Canada’s progressive, diverse face.” He was seen as the natural successor to Barack Obama, and a champion of modern liberal values.

Ah, how the (supposedly) mighty have fallen. With an impending federal election this autumn, Mr. Trudeau’s Liberal government has dropped to second place behind the opposition Tories. His personal popularity has crumbled to just 35 per cent.

But the biggest blow to his premiership came more than two weeks ago, when the Liberals were rocked by allegations of cronyism from one of their party caucus members. Jody Wilson-Raybould, the former Justice Minister and Attorney General, claimed the PM’s office had attempted to pressure her against getting involved in criminal proceedings against SNC-Lavalin, a Montreal-based construction company. Having left the cabinet, she could not immediately reveal the details publicly due to solicitor-client privilege, which she needed the PM to waive to enable her to speak out.