But on a conference call with his defeated donors last week Romney sparked outrage among many Republican figures after he appeared to say Obama had won support by “giving a lot of stuff” to some voters such as Hispanics, black Americans and young people in the form of healthcare, free contraceptives and forgiveness of college loan interests. “In each case, they were very generous in what they gave to those groups,” Romney said.

Those comments caused Jindal to criticise the former governor of Massachusetts in a CNN interview. “I absolutely reject that notion, that description. If you want voters to like you, the first thing you need to do is like them yourself,” Jindal said.

He was far from alone. New Hampshire senator Kelly Ayotte, who was once talked about as a potential Romney running mate, told MSNBC: “I don’t agree with the comments. I think the campaign is over, and what the voters are looking for us to do is to accept their votes and then go forward, and we’ve got some big challenges that need to be resolved.”

New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who caused ructions within the Romney campaign by praising President Barack Obama’s handling of Hurricane Sandy, also spoke to the left-leaning cable channel and pulled no punches. “You can’t expect to be a leader of all the people and [be so] divisive. Someone asked me: ‘Why did Mitt Romney lose?’ And I said: ‘Because he got less votes than Barack Obama. That’s why’,” Christie said.