The hardline Brexiteers bear an increasing resemblance to revolutionary Marxists: their theory is perfect, they say — it just isn’t being implemented properly. That was the observation of one seasoned watcher of British politics yesterday.

For Brexiteers the news this week that the negotiations are deadlocked, the parliamentary legislation is stalled and the IMF has downgraded the British economy is only confirmation that Brexit isn’t being carried out with sufficient zeal.

So now come the denunciations and the show trials. This week’s enemy within is Chancellor Philip Hammond, whose behaviour, according to the former Chancellor and arch-Brexiteer Nigel Lawson, is “very close to sabotage”.

Mr Hammond’s “crime” is that he is insufficiently enthusiastic about the progress of the revolution. The fact that British business and the rest of the world regard him as one of the grown-ups in the Government grappling with the true challenges of Brexit only confirms their paranoia that he’s a fifth columnist.

Other “doombuckets” and “Eeyores” include the BBC, the CBI, the Cabinet Secretary, the civil service, the City of London and a host of international financial institutions. If only we could all agree to sing patriotic songs and celebrate the tractor- production figures, things would be much more cheerful.

Also in the Brexiteer firing line — just as with Marxists — are the imperialist foreign powers for meddling in the revolution. In this case it’s the whole EU, which stands accused of not immediately conceding to all of Britain’s demands and which — for a supposedly useless organisation on the verge of collapse — seems remarkably united and disciplined in the negotiations.

Finally, like all good Marxists, the hardline Brexiteers reserve their greatest venom for their own.

The former director of Vote Leave this week accused fellow leading Brexiteer David Davis of “grotesque uselessness” and says “the shambles now unfolding is a direct consequence of [the] historic blunder” of exiting from the EU prematurely — rather than what some might regard as the historic blunder of exiting at all.

Watching the revolution consuming its own children might be amusing for the rest of us, were it not for that other feature these hardline Brexiteers share with Marxists: the willingness to put at risk the living standards of millions of people in pursuit of their ideological cause.

London’s housing crisis

The worrying state of London’s housing market is highlighted again today by a new study from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, showing that more people across all income groups are being forced to rent rather than buy, while at the same time the cost of doing so has risen significantly.

Not only that, but London’s renters are being physically squeezed too, with the average floor space occupied down 10 per cent in a decade. The worst affected are the young.

All of this matters deeply. London’s future depends on it remaining affordable, particularly for younger generations whose talents are needed to drive this city forward.

Both Mayor Sadiq Khan and ministers have promised major housebuilding to help ease property prices and rents. It is time to deliver.

Bitcoin on the rise

A Notting Hill villa is on sale for £17 million, payable only in Bitcoin.

This a deal of nerves in two very changeable markets: both buyer or seller will feel put out if the price of property sinks while Bitcoin rises, or vice versa.

This is a reminder that the real value of housing is its function, not its notional value. But it comes to something when Bitcoin is seen as a better investment than the great British pound.