Last week Jacob Rees-Mogg declared that Theresa May was going to turn Britain into a “slave state”. Today, as journalists asked him about his failed coup against the Prime Minister, he urged them to employ more “moderate language”.

“‘Coup’ is entirely the wrong word,” protested the chairman of the European Research Group. “Indeed it’s rather a silly word… This type of over-egged language is really rather damaging to political debate…”

Very well. It wasn’t a coup. Perish the thought. It was merely a delicate suggestion to a cherished friend to look again at her proposals and, in view of their disappointing reception on the back benches, sling her hook the traitorous rat.

Mr Rees-Mogg was speaking at a press conference near Parliament. Sitting alongside him was the former Brexit Secretary David Davis, looking oddly dishevelled: hair flustered, tie askew. He looked as if he’d been dragged through a Withdrawal Agreement backwards. There was no sign of Steve Baker – the organiser, if that’s not too strong a word, of the ERG coup. Sorry, not coup. I mean the courteous invitation to a dear colleague to reconsider her stance and, in light of the concerns raised, take a running jump the two-faced fraud.