The prevailing thinking about the former Republican vice-presidential candidate on the smaller, greyer side the pond would, I strongly suspect, include the following views: she doesn’t know enough, isn’t her voice a bit screechy, why is she so nasty to Obama, what a carry-on with that Levi boy and why, like so many Americans, does she so love shooting large animals? And yes, she does look fabulous in anything.

It may not be much of a recommendation list, but Cameron was wise to keep his counsel, for in a little over two years the Prime Minister could find himself shaking hands with President Sarah Palin…

For conservatives, especially women, her appeal rests in her individualism, the ordinariness of her background, her blithe mastery of motherhood and career and her plain speaking, while her flat, sharp tones are less grating to the ears of many fellow Americans.

In what is a profoundly more conservative country than Britain, there is a solid base of public opinion that agrees with her politics. She is adamantly anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage, pro-small government (at least ostensibly) and unyielding in the view that American military might can do no wrong.