What is really going on in politics? Get our daily email briefing straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

The hairline fractures running through the bones of the British body politic are on the brink of becoming full-scale breaks.

Theresa May’s party is fast smashing itself beyond repair. The increasingly eccentric behaviour of Jacob Rees-Mogg’s Brexiteer rebels means not even a bodycast would keep the Conservatives intact. And Mrs May’s appeal for unity today will fall on deaf ears.

If there were a General Election tomorrow, the PM would find herself in the extraordinary position of campaigning against her own party.

And Tory MPs would have to speak out against their leader. That is why an election is unlikely. But in the chaos that is Westminster nowadays, it’s not impossible.

Which is also why Labour must be prepared for it. And for the few MPs tempted to break away from Jeremy Corbyn to think again.

Opinion polls suggest that Labour and the Tories are running neck and neck. For Labour MPs to turn their backs on their party would be to snatch a catastrophic defeat from the jaws of a slender victory.

We understand the frustration of these MPs. The threat of deselection hangs over them. Mr Corbyn has still not got to grips with anti-semitism.

They may well feel he should stop sitting on the fence over Brexit, but the fence is not a bad place to be while the Labour leader sees which side of it the Tories come down on.

This newspaper has reservations about some of Mr Corbyn’s twists and turns. But we believe a Labour government led by him is still in the best interests of Sunday Mirror readers.

It would be a tragedy if a handful of MPs besotted by Brexit were to jeopardise that.

Sunday Mirror readers would never forgive them.

A duty to pubs

Philip Hammond might argue that the pub trade has never had it so good.

The Chancellor froze beer duty for the second year running in his last Budget.

And in giving businesses with rateable values below £51,000 a tax break, he saved the landlord of a typical Sheffield pub more than £6,000 a year.

But pubs are a special case. They are the soul of both urban and rural communities.

They may be closing down at a slower rate than they were, but we are still losing 14 a week and that is unacceptable.

(Image: PA)

And at 54p a pint, UK beer duty remains the third highest in Europe.

The Campaign for Real Ale says Brexit presents an opportunity to create a level playing field between pubs and supermarkets and off licences. We heartily agree. And so should the Chancellor as he pieces together Britain’s post-Brexit economy.

Pubs should enjoy a special status when Mr Hammond works out which sectors get what tax break. Just as they enjoy a special place in the nation’s heart.