The last time I saw my cousin, the former Tory MP Danny Kruger, I found myself trying to ginger him up a bit. I said, which I thought then and thought now – and which I can’t think it is betraying a confidence to say publicly – that the low state of the Conservative party was a bummer for those who sat on its benches, but also an opportunity for the likes of him.

After years of drift, venality, lurching ideological changes and idea-free opportunism, they had the chance to rebuild. Danny looked well placed to take a leading part in that project. Tory intellectuals are thin on the ground these days, and he is one. He’s certainly the only current MP who once got sacked as a candidate for quoting Schumpeter.

My view, you might think, will be clouded by familial affection. It is not, at least

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