A length of white rope was the first abiding image of the election, and it was one which said a lot about Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

On July 4 last year, Mrs Clinton was in Gotham, New Hampshire, to press the flesh months ahead of the primary – which she went on to lose badly. Things turned a tad messy as a gaggle of protesters emerged to harangue her about Benghazi. So out came the rope, behind which the press were corralled as she made her serene and carefully controlled progress through the town.

Local Republicans lapped it up, accusing her of insulting “granite staters”, but it was the first hint of the sense of entitlement has underpinned her entire campaign.