The moment I first understood why Dominic Raab thinks he could be prime minister came halfway through our conversation, when his Brazilian wife, Erika Rey, leant back and laughed. Sun was glinting in through the kitchen windows, but it was Erika who had caused the former Brexit secretary’s face to light up.

“So what gave you the confidence to go after Erika?” I ask with deliberate cheek. “She’s way out of your league, isn’t she?”

The look that crosses his face at that moment is one I would bottle if I could. He laughs, but there is a slight tightness around the eyes that tells me he doesn’t think he’s a bad-looking fellow, actually, while acknowledging with pride that his wife, a marketing executive