Only one Member of Parliament left a hospital chemotherapy bed in a wheelchair to vote for the bill that triggered Article 50 and the process of leaving the European Union. That was me.

Although I voted Remain and was bitterly disappointed when we lost, early the morning after the referendum I sent a tweet saying, “The people I work for have made a momentous decision. I advised against it. But they call the shots and I will now do everything I can to make a success of it.”

I went on to vote with Theresa May and David Davis in every division on the Withdrawal Act that repeals our membership of the European Union. I am implacably opposed to a second referendum, which is simply designed to overturn the result of the first.

Since August I have been working flat out to develop a Plan B, Norway Plus, in case Theresa May’s deal is rejected by the Commons. Yet in recent days some have accused me of trying to frustrate Brexit because I have made clear that I will do everything in my power to prevent us crashing out of the EU with no deal.

Let me remind my critics what the Conservative Party’s 2017 manifesto said on the matter: “We continue to believe that no deal is better than a bad deal for the UK.” It did not say: “We continue to believe that no deal is better than any deal.”