Her reporting of Corbyn’s defects drove them mad, and culminated, in 2017, in death threats and fears for her safety. It was in that year that the BBC arranged security for her at the Labour Party Conference – an unheard-of measure for a journalist going about her job, and a marker of the depths to which Labour had sunk .

In Kuenssberg’s role, it is a truism that you’re never going to please everyone. But she was well-liked and respected by many politicians, and was the journalist-of-choice for Dominic Cummings when he wanted to communicate something of importance.

This also, unfortunately, meant that, like the rest of the Westminster journalistic tribe, she was obsessive about “process” stories: stories about minute transgressions of procedure, often trivial, which are seen as embarrassing to a government. The journalists love them – they provoke endless speculation – but they rarely matter much to the wider public and soak up far too much airtime and effort.

The race will now be on to find Kuenssberg’s successor. Vicki Young, her deputy, is seen by some as the favourite; she would be a safe, if dull, choice. Others thought to be in the running are Jon Sopel, fresh from a stint as the BBC’s North America editor; Amol Rajan, the BBC’s media editor; and Chris Mason, another BBC political correspondent.

The BBC will tread carefully here. The Corporation’s relationship with the government is fragile and it will want to avoid being provocative. The last thing it currently needs is more controversy.