T here are surprisingly few rules or even conventions about journalists being members of a political party. The usual practice seems to be that political reporters tend not to be, the better to demonstrate their personal integrity, disinterest and impartiality (even though the organisations they work for can be among the most venal weapons of propaganda around). Some lobby correspondents – in the past at any rate – have even gone to the lengths of not voting for the sake of their reputation.

Columnists, though, enjoy more leeway. Some describe themselves as boldly as “socialist” or “traditional Conservative” or whatever, and are seen at party conferences and rallies, as much participants as observers and commentators. Some can take things a bit too far, in my view. Some devotees of the cult of Corbyn fall easily into that category, but others too: some on the right have still not recovered from the end of the Thatcher era in 1990.