If we really want to rule out no-deal, Britain needs to take part in the European elections. No-one wants to hear this, but it's true. Labour and the Tories both hate it. The Europeans despise it as much as the British government does. But it has to happen. If it doesn't, no-deal becomes much more likely.

The government has been defeated by MPs on propositions that they themselves backed two weeks ago. The whole edifice of blather and nonsense is coming tumbling down.