‘Patel has bullied civil servants for years, former colleagues say”. So reported this newspaper yesterday and the report was well-researched. Priti Patel’s record of abusive and undisciplined behaviour is as long as your arm, the people who ought to know this know it, and she should never have been allowed anywhere near a ministerial red box.

Priti Patel, however, is a consequence and not a cause. Every Commons I can remember has had its small quotient of truncheon-waving rent-a-quote types, and it may be argued that their equivalents among the general population deserve parliamentary representation. Quarrelsome, unthinking and aggressive politicians will always be with us.

But you don’t make them home secretary. Ms Patel crashed out of government under Theresa May for a very grave