In death, the last leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, is rightly being lauded once more for the role he played in its collapse and in ending the Cold War, for which in life he received the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize.

Yet Mr Gorbachev came to power in 1985 determined to save, not destroy, the Soviet system. His rightful place in history rests on what he refused to do to save that “evil empire” from history’s dustbin.