One thing is certain. Mr Gordon has contemptuously smashed the foundation myth of the modern Tory party: namely, that somehow, out there, exists an “anglosphere”, a zone of common values that unites the English-speaking peoples, and in particular the US and Britain. For decades, Right-wing Republicans have beguiled credulous Conservatives into speculation that they were free to choose between America and Europe. Mr Gordon spelt out the uncomfortable truth that such an option does not exist, that British exit from the European Union would be unacceptable to the US – and that, so far as President Obama is concerned, Britain only matters as part of the EU.