A month before Theresa May called the snap election that has sealed her reputation — and perhaps her fate — one of her most vociferous allies insisted there would be no campaign. “There is no way to do it without it being a shit show,” the ally remarked.

It is hard to top this prophecy of the catastrophe that has engulfed May and her closest aides. Seven weeks ago May was mistress of all she surveyed: 20 points ahead in the polls and hailed by MPs and commentators for impressing voters across the political spectrum with her stubborn practicality.

Today her premiership hangs by a thread after what Tory MPs say is the worst campaign they have ever seen, a campaign that cruelly exposed May’s