‘To those that say the PM should step down,” declares our foreign secretary, “or that we need another election or even, God help us, a second referendum, I say come off it. Get a grip, everyone.” What the rotter means is “kindly leave it to me to choose the moment when I knife my party leader”.

But it is people who think like Boris Johnson who should get a grip. Britain is without a proper government. Our prime minister has lost all credibility with the rest of the European Union. We are leaderless at the most critical time in our history since Suez. Can you believe that David Davis, the Brexit secretary, is about to begin negotiations for Britain’s departure from the EU when, as