Mcconaughey acts the part of a unifying US president

If the UK is suffering a dearth of political talent, the same could certainly be said of the United States. The Democrats – unforgivably – wasted the past four years trying to impeach Donald Trump, rather than focusing their efforts on finding a superior successor to Sleepy Joe.

Meanwhile, the Republican Party is once again atoning for the former president. A House of Representatives committee investigation this week heard that Trump “lit the flame” of last year’s Capitol riots.

But could Hollywood provide a solution? In the absence of some constitutional change allowing foreign-born citizens to run for president, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former California governor, has been ruled out of the top job by his Austrian heritage. Now Matthew Mcconaughey has become the latest actor to be touted as a Ronald Reagan-esque potential successor in the Oval Office.

It comes after the actor, 52, delivered an impassioned speech at the White House, calling for “common-sense gun laws” in the wake of the Robb Elementary School shooting which took place in his hometown of Uvalde, Texas.

The father of three spoke powerfully and movingly of the devastating impact on the 21 victims’ families as he called for a compromise between Right and Left. As the Telegraph reported this week, in one 21-minute oration he appears to have achieved what no American politician has in decades: a genuinely bipartisan appeal to the people of the US.

Mcconaughey, himself a proud gun owner, had reportedly considered running for Texas governor in 2022, but having never spoken openly about his political affiliations, no one seems to know which side he would support.

Left, Right or neither of the above, could the Oscar-winning star of Buyers Club be on the brink of another “Mcconaissance”?