It wasn’t meant to be like this. A snap election, the timing of which and the style of which only the Conservative Party knew, started off with predictions of a historical landslide.

But now "strong and stable" seems like it was a very long time ago. Even the presidential style of "Theresa’s team", with little mention of the Conservative Party, has disappeared from view. The truth is that the Conservative Party’s main asset has now become a liability. Theresa is bombing with the electorate.

What is clear is that the more people see of Mrs May the less they like her. I said from the start that I doubted her sincerity, that she was prone to shifting positions and that it would be difficult for a Remainer leading a Cabinet of some very strong Remainers to carry off the Brexit election without some friction.

Perhaps we’ve been given a clue in the recent Budget, where within a few days the National Insurance rises for the self-employed were abandoned. But even more astonishing than that, for the first time that anyone can remember, a manifesto pledge on social care was changed even before we reached the election.