But wait. Labour alleges the Prime Minister broke the rules, and that would be bad because the Government designed them. But Labour waved them through – and listening to their testimonies, it started to sound like the rules they endorsed should have faced a tiny bit more scrutiny. Fathers denied access to the delivery room. Alzheimer’s patients unable to see relatives. Children with learning difficulties abandoned and confused. Naz Shah reported that on May 20 2020, a mourner at a funeral was made to stand “behind barricades”, unable to “kiss the coffin”. Why? That sounds worthy of an inquiry itself.

The House fell silent as Afzal Khan described how his mother “died alone in hospital while I sat alone in the car outside, trying to be as close to her as I could”. It was desperately moving. It also suggests that at least as big a crime as government personnel breaking these rules were the rules themselves, but the only MP to criticise authoritarian restrictions was Sir Des Swayne.