They say that misfortune makes men acquainted with strange bedfellows. The old hereditary Whig Cabinet ministers must, no doubt, by this time have learned to feel themselves at home with strange neighbours at their elbows.

Then doe all with a tunable voice of shouting bid him welcome.

Carlos Fuller, Belize’s ambassador to the UN, said: “I can understand why the king was asked not to attend – keeping him out of the fray. However, as the principal UK policymaker and the Cop26 president, the PM should have led the summit.

Ladies and gentlemen, he said, adopting an Englishy voice, this is not the limit of their benevolence.