One would have hoped that the scale of devastation wrought by Hurricane Harvey would not have triggered another bout of political bickering. Alas, an unseemly spat has erupted between Ted Cruz, one of the Texas senators, and a few fellow Republicans on the east coast.

It centres on Cruz's response to Hurricane (or Superstorm) Sandy, which claimed 117 lives in the US alone and wrought havoc along a swathe of the eastern seaboard as well as the Caribbean in 2012. Cruz was among a number of Republicans, including his fellow Texan senator John Cornyn, who voted against a bill authorising a $50.5 billion aid package. In the lower house Texans also opposed the legislation joining other Republicans in backing an alternative and cheaper package drafted by Mick Mulvaney, then a mere congressman and now Donald Trump's budget chief.

It would be fair to say that their stance has neither been forgotten nor forgiven. Hostilities were opened by Peter King, a veteran New York congressman, who managed to combine taking the moral high ground with aiming a sharp jibe at Cruz and his chums. “Ted Cruz & Texas cohorts voted vs NY/NJ aid after Sandy but I’ll vote 4 Harvey aid. NY won't abandon Texas. 1 bad turn doesn't deserve another,” he tweeted.