They can stop the pretense now. For a long time, we’ve heard that Liz Kendall is the Labour leadership candidate that Conservatives most fear. The right-wing media and the Tories always claim to be scared of Labour choosing the most right-wing, Tory candidate — the one the Conservatives and right-wing media fawn over and praise and grovel to — as their leader.

It is part of a deep ideological strategy since, if it is repeated often enough, its premise — that the electorate is fundamentally right-wing and all political questions must be solved in a right-wing way — will be taken for granted.

That claim won’t stand now. Having patronized Jeremy Corbyn, then laughed at him, they now offer a stream of constant panic and hate. Every day there is a new twist on the same basic theme.