S O MANY EXTRAORDINARY events are happening in British politics that it is impossible to tell the normal from the abnormal. This is not only disorientating—all the talk of “coups” and “traitors” can unsettle even the most philosophical of souls. It is also dangerous. A quick glance at history shows that terrible things can happen when you normalise the abnormal. Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the House of Commons, maintains that the British constitution can “bend to a passing storm”. But if the storm is a hurricane that rages on for years, it can also break.

Boris Johnson was elected over his more moderate rival, Jeremy Hunt, with 93,000 votes out of a turnout of just 150,000—all that remains of a Conservative Party that was once 3m strong. More than half are over 55 years old, 70% are men, 97% are white and, as a group, they have far more authoritarian and Eurosceptic views than the population at large. Yet this mockery of a mandate has not prevented Mr Johnson from pursuing an unbendingly extreme policy. He has filled his cabinet with people willing to sign up to a no-deal Brexit, a minority position in the parliamentary party. He has suspended Parliament in order to reduce the amount of time available to debate the rights and wrongs of such a Brexit, a decision that many regard as a constitutional outrage. His justification for this is that the “will of the people”, as embodied in the referendum result of 2016, must be honoured. But there is no evidence that the 52% who voted for Brexit support the no-deal variety. One recent poll shows that Britons don’t trust Mr Johnson to make the right decision on Brexit by a margin of 55% to 34%.

Mr Johnson made his second-ever appearance as prime minister in the House of Commons on September 3rd, only to suffer one of the worst humiliations of any leader. Twenty-one Tories voted with the opposition to outlaw leaving the EU without a deal. Mr Johnson’s response was to purge the rebels from his party. They included two former chancellors (one of whom was in office just seven weeks ago), five other former cabinet ministers and Winston Churchill’s grandson, Sir Nicholas Soames. At the same time a former Tory prime minister, Sir John Major, is party to a lawsuit accusing Mr Johnson of acting unconstitutionally.

With the reality-based wing of his party decimated, Mr Johnson is a prisoner of a narrow clique that combines ideological fervour with personal eccentricity. Steve Baker talks about bulldozing the House of Commons into the Thames. John Redwood is so lacking in the milk of human kindness that he makes Mr Gradgrind look like a lactating mother. This week Mr Rees-Mogg chose to listen to an era-defining debate while lying prone across the Commons benches, as if on a chaise longue, providing the Labour Party with an ideal election poster.

Even more remarkable than the mainstreaming of extremists is the normalisation of a no-deal Brexit. During the referendum campaign, no Leaver mentioned the possibility of a no-deal Brexit, just as few brought up the issue of the Irish border. Brexiteers assured the country that negotiating a trade deal with the European Union would be the easiest thing in the world. Now, Mr Johnson believes that you have to support the possibility of no-deal to remain a Tory, and Nigel Farage, the leader of the Brexit Party, regards no-deal as the only acceptable option.

In normal times, voters can shift to the opposition if one side goes berserk. But the Labour Party has a good claim to have arrived ahead of the Conservative Party in crazy town, by electing Jeremy Corbyn leader. Mr Corbyn has devoted his life to supporting obscure and often repellent causes. His guests in the House of Commons have included IRA sympathisers and Holocaust deniers. His inner circle of advisers includes a former communist, Andrew Murray, who has lauded North Korea and praised Stalin. For all the talk of his being an ineffectual party leader, Mr Corbyn has done a very good job of taking over the party’s executive committee and putting in place automatic “trigger ballots” which will allow activists to eject MP s who don’t toe the Corbyn line.

British politics is now trapped in a weird impasse as these two extremists face each other across the aisle, bellowing and finger-jabbing. Mr Johnson, who claims that he doesn’t want an election, is now demanding one and Mr Corbyn, who claims that he does want an election, is refusing to give him one. But it is hard to summon up a laugh as events whirl out of control. Extremism is as addictive as roulette. The Conservative Party may fight the next election as a full-blown no-deal-Brexit party, forging a loose alliance with Mr Farage, and adding fury at political correctness and social breakdown to a powerful populist mix.

Extremism in one party also legitimises extremism in another. If Mr Corbyn wins the next election—which is more likely than most Tories realise—he will be emboldened by the Conservatives’ recent behaviour. A Tory opposition will find it hard to accuse Mr Corbyn of sacrificing the economy on the altar of ideology when it has done exactly that. By arguing that the “will of the people” matters more than the rights of minorities or the conventions of the constitution, the Tories have supplied Mr Corbyn with the weapons he needs to push through a radical hard-left programme. All he needs is a majority, which they are doing their best to provide.

Neverending story

There are some inspiring examples of countries righting themselves after periods of abnormality. Matteo Salvini, Italy’s fiery populist, has been weakened by his increasingly outrageous behaviour. But with both parties controlled by fanatical factions and Britain’s uncodified constitution depending on informal rules that extremists do not respect, it is difficult to see a way out of the mess. The great test for Britain is not just whether it can leave Europe with its economy intact. It is whether it can leave without doing lasting damage to institutions that were always more delicate than either Leavers or Remainers imagined. ■