After sending the Caroles and Jolyons into overdrive for 24 hours (and the rest of Twitter into meme-making mode) with the claim that he’d received a Brexit Party leaflet directly inside his postal ballot, TV historian Dan Snow has now issued a grovelling apology for the obviously false insinuation. His claim just melted away…

Snow knew the game was up after New Forest District Council brutally quashed Jolyon Maugham’s conspiracising before putting out a statement with the obvious explanation that it was “likely that the leaflet was delivered on or around the same day as the postal voting pack, which is how this misunderstanding may have arisen”. Guido hopes Snow approaches his historical inquiries with a bit more critical thinking…

At least Snow had the good grace to share the statement himself, although not before the ‘Didn’t Happen of the Year Awards’ got involved, and issue a grovelling half-apology via the BBC where he admits that “of course it could absolutely be my fault and my own incompetence”. You didn’t need to be a celebrity historian to work that one out…