Is the parade of Tory wives designed to distract us from the dull and desperate candidates?

Amber Rudd complains that some male candidates pushing themselves forward to replace Theresa May are guilty of "parading" their partners, commenting "this shouldn’t be some Game of Thrones push for the Iron Throne, we’ve all got important jobs to do".

She's right. The battle to appear "normal" to the rest of us outside Westminster is well underway.

Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt describes his wife Lucia as his "secret weapon" because she was born in China, claiming she helps him build relationships "because she is foreign". The couple were photographed hand in hand in a garden, like a scene from The Sound of Music.

Former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab (naked ambition personified) stands accused of arranging brainy books around his head in a photo shoot so he looked more cerebral. Last week, Raab conducted a joint newspaper interview and photo shoot in his kitchen with his Brazilian wife Erika. Having once referred to feminists as "some of the most obnoxious bigots", now Raab is pushing female-friendly (he hopes) talking points like two weeks paid paternity leave for men.

The former Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg was another politician who paraded his wife Miriam at every opportunity, claiming she was an independent career woman who insisted he helped at home.

Amber Rudd has a point – I have no idea what policies Raab or Hunt would pursue if they led the country. In fact, Hunt is possibly the blandest politician to ever bubble up to a seat in the Cabinet – a smiley multi-millionaire with no discernible creed or leadership qualities.

Will Michael Gove now order his wife Sarah Vine (a Daily Mail columnist) to open the doors of their lovely home to rival media outlets, and will Sajid Javid be caught doing the washing up? Very probably.