This has certainly not happened to any other chief rabbi, Rabbi Mirvis grinned.

“Steve Pack, the US president, addressed the consultative group in my absence. I was brought in to address them, and then I took my leave and sat in a room down the corridor for about half-an-hour while the group was deliberating.

“And I turned on my phone and began to read this fascinating Twitter conversation about what was happening. ‘Is it true, have you heard, rumour states…’ Then, someone tweeted: ‘Rabbi Mirvis has been appointed!’

“I don’t think that anyone from the consultative group was tweeting under the table, but the rumour mill was spreading in such a rife fashion. So I was watching it happening. And I thought to myself, gosh, I hope they do decide to appoint me because the world already knows about it!”