He had looked fragile for nine years, ever since he was elected Speaker. On Monday, when he made his stumbling, pathetic attempt at defiance, he looked broken. On Tuesday, finally, Michael Martin did something right.

He spoke for just 33 seconds, without deviation, hesitation or repetition. He didn’t even make a procedural error. Then the Commons moved straight to questions for the foreign secretary. It was, as people started saying at once, very dignified. And, as someone is bound to say, nothing he did as Speaker “became him like the leaving of it”.