To all intents and purposes, Theresa May might as well not exist

I was being fed and watered in the House of Lords by a Tory peer some years ago when he registered surprise at the arrival in the room of one of his colleagues. ‘I didn’t just think he was dead,’ said my host, ‘I even thought I’d been to his memorial service.’ I have been having similar thoughts about Mrs Theresa May, chairman of the Conservative party, following her appearance on Sir David Frost’s programme on BBC television last Sunday morning. It is a very long time since Mrs May was on my radar, and I suspect she has never even been the slightest blip on that of the millions of people who must be persuaded to vote Tory at the next election.

Sir David questioned Mrs May about her working relationship with Mr Duncan Smith. As he, she and all the rest of us might have expected, Mrs May claimed that all was fine and, indeed, dandy.