The result of the confidence vote on Wednesday night was a shock to Downing Street. That over a third of the Parliamentary party declined to support the Prime Minister sounds bad enough. It is even worse when one discounts the votes of those MPs who are members of the government and realises that around two thirds of backbenchers declined to give Theresa May their support.

The last seven days of chaos, starting with the refusal to release the Attorney General’s legal opinion, followed by three defeats for the government on one day, and ending with the debacle of the Commons vote on the Withdrawal Agreement being postponed, filled many with despair.

After the Prime Minister chose to postpone the vote, we were assured that she would make a strong statement showing she recognised the opposition to the deal and would go to Europe with bold proposals to change it. Instead, nothing had changed.