If you were to identify a single time and place at which the Dubai Ports World deal was lost, it was February 21, aboard Air Force One as George W. Bush, US president, flew back to Washington from a Colorado visit. Bill Frist, leader of the Senate’s Republican majority and a 2008 presidential contender, had just joined the gathering furore against the deal. Asked to respond, Mr Bush at first spoke calmly. He offered bland assurances that everything had been examined. He then added: “One of my concerns, however, is mixed messages. And the message is, it’s OK for a Great British company, but a Middle Eastern company – maybe we ought not to deal the same way. It’s a mixed message.”

This talking point was immediately repeated and amplified by White House allies. “The only whiners left by next week will be the registered bigots,” Grover Norquist, lobbyist and activist, told the Los Angeles Times.