The United Kingdom is in crisis, says Number 10. It is a doubly odd statement to make. For one thing, although the situation in Westminster is indeed lamentable, there is no crisis in the country at large. We have just recorded the best employment figures in our history. Growth, exports, the stock exchange, manufacturing output and wages are all rising. The deficit is back to pre-Gordon Brown levels.

Yes, there is an almighty mess in Parliament, but whose fault does the Prime Minister think that is? Watching the government mulishly bringing back the same defeated motion again and again makes me think of that scene in The Simpsons where Homer keeps electrocuting himself by repeatedly trying to grab some beer cans from a tangle of live wires. D’oh!

There was nothing inevitable about the failure of the government’s Brexit policy. It resulted from a series of unforced errors, some made by Leavers, some by Remainers, most by Downing Street.

Indulge me for a moment in a little fantasy. Imagine that, in the aftermath of the EU referendum, all sides had chosen to behave like adults. Suppose that Leavers had said, “We won, but we didn’t win big. Let’s stay as close to the EU as a fully sovereign country can”.