Not so long ago, a Secretary of State publicly promulgating policy diametrically opposed to that articulated by a Prime Minister would have been immediately sacked.

Theresa May repeated stated that her policy was to oppose the notion of a second referendum on the EU issue, as in (for example) her statement that
“There has not yet been enough recognition of the way that a second referendum could damage social cohesion by undermining faith in our democracy” .

This is unambiguous. It was thus a surprise to Grumpy that perhaps the most senior of all Cabinet members, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, went on record this week as saying that a second referendum “deserves to be considered”.

Read that again – the Chancellor is actively giving tacit acceptance to an action which the Prime Minister has repeated claimed would damage both social cohesion and democracy.

Parliamentary government in the UK has now broken down. The Westminster TV channel is now more watchable than most of the now tired soaps, with intrigue, double dealing, the traducing centuries of tradition, and twists and turns that are hard to predict. The only element missing to make it an unmissable hit is the absence of surreptitious sex on the back row of the green benches – my suggestion would be rumpy pumpy between Anna Soubry and Jacob Rees-Mogg – come on, Anna !!

The country is coming apart, the whatever now happen with Brexit, it will end in tears, public disdain in politicians and damaging ploarisation in the electorate for years to come.