Published: 8:37 AM July 16, 2018 Updated: 6:15 PM September 17, 2020

From left to right - Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn, Vince Cable and Caroline Lucas. - Credit: Archant

No wonder Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is so desperate to go for the kill. But the prospects of an early general election, which Corbyn so eagerly desires, seem remote.

Unless the Government is defeated on a vote of confidence.

Rarely has an official position faced such a ragbag of a Government in such a state of fractious turmoil, mess and muddle as the present administration.

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And with Labour ahead in the opinion polls and Corbyn having amazingly acquired almost pop-star adulation, there could hardly be a better time for him and his party to go to the polls.

Corbyn and his cronies look on, frustrated, as Theresa May's popularity in her own party is in steep decline over that dreaded word, 'Brexit'. She has been openly accused by some of her own colleagues of betraying the 17-plus millions who voted for Brexit in the referendum.

Her latest blueprint for Brexit led to two major Cabinet resignations, along with some smaller fry, and led former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith to say scathingly: 'I voted to leave the EU, not half leave'.

And Tory back-bencher Jacob Rees-Mogg, who is prominent in the assault on the new proposals, denounced Mrs May as, 'A Remainer who remains a Remainer'.

His view, that if she continues along this path she will split the Conservative Party from tip to toe, is shared by a substantial number of other Toy dissidents.

Now, Parliament is waiting agog to see whether Boris Johnson's new freedom on the back-benches will lead him to becoming a thorn in the flesh of the Prime Minister.

Government whips are hoping to get some Labour support when the proposals are voted on in the Commons very soon. But Tom Watson, Labour's deputy leader, has doused cold water on that.

So things could very rapidly go from bad to worse for the Government. Theresa May's own position is becoming very wobbly. It could suddenly topple over if the situation does deteriorate much further.