The Government has been desperately trying to maintain the delicate balancing act of putting preparations in place for no deal while not whipping up panic about it. So why on earth has Government Whip Mark Spencer written to one of his constituents to tell them that:

“If we reached no formal agreement with the European Union we would not be able to do anything with them – not trade, not travel, nothing.”

Not even the most headbanging Remainers are making farcical claims like this. Even North Korea does some trade with the EU each year. Does Spencer have so little faith in his own Government’s ability to prepare for no deal that he thinks that the UK will end up with a worse relationship with the EU than North Korea has? Looks like the… err, Whips’ Office better call him in to have a word…