The public perceive a prime minister incapable of taking a decision; so, if to govern is to choose, she cannot govern. Her apparent lack of core political beliefs, notably in Brexit, undermines her and the Government, for there can be no leadership without conviction. She makes matters worse by dividing her cabinet into two factions warring over the customs agreement with the EU, seemingly abdicating to them the process of taking what has become the most difficult decision of all. Perhaps it is as well, given her Foreign Secretary calls her ideas on the subject “crazy”.

Some colleagues think she is deliberately delaying the process, which seems a charitable explanation for her ineptitude. The Chancellor of the Exchequer and she seem barely on speaking terms. The International Trade Minister offers little consolation from what appears to be his predicament of enforced trappism. The Brexit Secretary went missing in action months ago, and all we hear is that shaping the future of our “deal” has been handed over to a senior civil servant from a cadre committed to stopping Brexit at all costs.

Never has Mrs May sought to wrest the initiative from the European Commission and their useful idiots in both Houses of Parliament. Take the Irish situation. A serious Prime Minister would say to Leo Varadkar, the Taioseach, that it will be through no wish of hers that a border with customs posts is reinstated between our countries. She should remind him that a border would have little impact on a UK economy liberated from the overpriced and overregulated cartel of the EU; but will have a shocking effect on Ireland, given the volume of Irish exports that either come to or through the UK. So, a serious Prime Minister would challenge Mr Varadkar to ask his masters in Brussels so stop using Ireland as a stick with which to beat the UK, but to help the UK execute the democratic mandate of its people without making Ireland an economic basket case. Sadly, Mrs May seems embarrassed by Brexit, and masochistically keen to be punished for it.