An abortion protest in Northern Ireland last week. Theresa May could insist that abortion is a matter for the Northern Irish assembly and executive — but it could be a moot point if the power sharing deadlock remains

The Conservative Party was barely two weeks into its febrile and ultimately truncated leadership election in July 2016 when Ken Clarke was invited by Sky News to give his views. But it was an exchange off-air, when Mr Clarke was unaware that he was being filmed, which still lives on in the Westminster lexicon two years later.

Speaking to Sir Malcolm Rifkind, the former foreign secretary, Mr Clarke said: “Theresa’s a bloody difficult woman, but you and I worked for Margaret Thatcher . . . I get on all right with her, and she is good.”

Rather than recoiling at the jibe Mrs May has embraced it. “The next person to find that out will be Jean-Claude Juncker,” she quipped. And in March, when campaigners