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Not since Princess Diana died has an event in the UK been such a focus of global attention.

Back then there was an outpouring of grief and support from around the world.

But with Brexit and the political fallout we have become a laughing stock.

As an American commentator noted: “No more can anyone say that we in the US are the most stupid nation on earth.”

Apologies if that sounds disrespectful of the 17million people, some readers of this paper, who voted Leave.

Many will stand by that view. Fair enough. But many do not.

They feel – rightly – that they were lied to. They see, with alarm, that the warnings of economic , political, diplomatic, social and cultural damage are coming to pass.

Project Fear is a reality and ahead lie years of uncertainty.

It is the political mess that is attracting most attention from bemused and shocked observers overseas.

How on earth did David Cameron land us with this? How could Boris Johnson set fire to the house then do a runner?

What does it say about the Tories that they back and front-stab each other with a zeal that makes the Blair-Brown disputes tame by comparison?

And talking of Labour leaders, how much less of a leader does Jeremy Corbyn have to be before he takes the hint? I keep hearing he is a nice, honest, decent man. Decent men do the decent thing.

As Michael Gove goes the same way as Johnson, the knife-wielder failing to land the crown, Theresa May looks nailed on to become PM.

But she makes too many assumptions in her assertion that there will not be a general election until 2020, or that there will not be a second look at the decision of June 23 .

We are about to enter the most complex divorce in our history. As the detail emerges, and people see the damage that may be done, then Parliament will have to be involved.

If at any point MPs feel they are being asked to vote against our national interest, they will have a duty to say so.

For too long now the country has been a pawn in games at the top of the Tory party . Years of division and nastiness.

Cameron thought he could end it. The referendum was held to shut up his Eurosceptics, shut down UKIP and resolve the argument once and for all.

Then when the referendum came the country became Johnson’s pawn in the never-ending chess game with his fellow Old Etonian Cameron.

Now the contenders for leadership are slamming the door on Europe - not because it is in the national interest but because it is the way to land the top job.

What an irony that this whole wretched debate was meant to be about giving the people the power to elect those who govern us – and the top job in the land is being decided by an ageing, shrinking, tiny minority, namely Tory members.

It is because we face an economic and political crisis that we need a strong Opposition more than ever. The Corbyn Opposition is a joke. But no longer a funny one.

He cannot even say if he voted Remain. He cannot muster a full front bench. His zealot supporters say if he goes it would betray the members who elected him.

But he has betrayed members already. They elected him as leader. The key is in the word. Leader.

He cannot do it. And if you cannot do the job, and you’re a decent man, you make way for someone who can.

If not, a Tory party which has ripped this country apart will be allowed to carry on doing their worst.

And here is the greatest irony of all.

The Leave campaign was hijacked by a bunch of right-wing elitists who could not give a damn about the interests of working people. But it is working people who gave them this victory which is turning sour.

It is those working people who will be hardest hit as the full consequences of Brexit work their way through.

The world is laughing at us. And we should weep for what we have lost.

But let us not give up without a fight.