The sight of Hillary Clinton taking the stage alongside Barack Obama today as his nominee for Secretary of State would once have caused the jaws of some of their closest friends to drop.

That it is possible now is testament not only to the healing powers of time but also to the fierce desire of Bill Clinton to secure his wife’s position.

The list of concessions this intensely proud former President has made to the Obama transition team’s lawyers, including the vetting of his speeches, are so remarkable that one might be forgiven for thinking that he was working off guilt for some past sin. But the question remains whether it will ultimately be in Mr Obama’s interests to bring his once-fiercest rival into the fold.

The President-elect has brought an undoubted superstar into his team who will do much to reassure allies including Britain about the direction or sure-footedness of his foreign policy. David Axelrod, a senior Obama adviser, has recently taken to calling Mrs Clinton a “demonstrably able, tough, brilliant person”.

The trouble is that so is her husband. Even if she continues dutifully to proclaim the virtues of Mr Obama and represent him effectively wherever she goes, many doubt that Mr Clinton has quite the same discipline.

The Clintons do not give Mr Obama “two for the price of one”. Rather, as the New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd recently put it, they offer “two for the price of two”.

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