The weather has been lousy up here in New England over the last few weeks. A wave of nor’easters has dumped vast amounts of snow on the region, making Britain’s “beast from the east” look like a mild dusting.

But for some reason, Jeff Flake, the outgoing Republican senator for Arizona, left the sun-soaked south-west to give an address at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire. 

His purpose was to deliver a speech at the Politics and Eggs breakfast at the college's New England Institute of Politics – something of a rite of passage for anyone with presidential ambitions, including Donald Trump.

It was some speech.

For around 20 minutes he launched a withering attack on the president.

“The irony...