If I was a Remainer, I’d be in panic mode. Britain is scheduled to leave the EU by legal default on October 31 without a deal. In the past, we could trust that wouldn’t happen because Theresa May wanted a withdrawal agreement at all costs and Parliament could block Brexit if she didn’t. But now we have a brand spanking new PM, Boris Johnson, who wants out on the 31st, with or without a deal. And his top thinker says that Parliament has run out of time to stop him.

I suspect Dominic Cummings is only half right. He argues that when Parliament returns in September, it could trigger a vote of no confidence and bring down the Government – but the PM is then free to delay a poll until after October 31, by which time Britain would be out of the EU anyway. The House of Commons Library confirms this is true, and there’s something rather appealing about the Government just running down the clock. If I was Boris, I’d bugger off to Barbados for three months and keep my phone on silent.

Ah, but there are always other things Remainers could do to create trouble. Speaker John Bercow would probably support emergency debates; MPs could use any no-deal legislation to pass fiddly amendments. And if there was a vote of no confidence, and if Boris did lose that vote, the Commons would then have an opportunity to find a replacement PM. Dominic Grieve MP summed it up like this: “Bringing down the Government and setting up a new one in its place.”