Boris Johnson is to be congratulated for sacking the 21 Tory MPs who voted to block a No Deal Brexit this week. It was a radical move on his part, but contrary to what the moaners and whingers have been bleating about, it was not without precedent in parliamentary history. Furthermore, the rebels knew exactly what they were doing.

These self-serving men and women – many of them not proper Conservatives anyway - all received fair warning that their arrogance and disloyalty would have consequences. When you commit an act of political sabotage, you earn your punishment.

Johnson’s decisiveness proves something much more significant than just his ability to bring his party to heel, however. For the events of this summer confirm that the centre of gravity in British politics is shifting inexorably in favour of Brexit. A much-needed realignment is taking place. I have been arguing for this for years and I am only too delighted that the swamp is being drained at last.

Since mid-August, two Tory MPs, Sarah Woollaston and Phillip Lee, have defected to the Liberal Democrats. This is direct evidence of the sort of repositioning I have in mind. These turncoats were not prepared to honour the Conservatives’ Brexit manifesto pledge on which they stood happily at the 2017 general election, so they have decamped. That neither MP has had the courage to hold a by-election having crossed the floor tells you all you need to know about their true principles and priorities, incidentally. Frankly, the Liberal Democrats deserve them.