Even after Manchester, the significant moments of this general election have probably not changed. The crucial dates to bear in mind, as the polls bounce and commentary becomes excitable, are September 24, 2016 when Jeremy Corbyn saw off the anaemic challenge of Owen Smith and July 13, 2016, when Theresa May succeeded David Cameron as prime minister. It can be all but impossible, with the army on the streets, to remember that most events, while they matter profoundly for other reasons, do not swing elections. Mrs May, though, is doing her best to make the campaign matter.

A conventional interpretation will settle about this terrible week, in which Mrs May was saved from her botched manifesto by the need to be prime ministerial in response