Conservative peer the Earl of Limerick has announced he is crossing the floor to join the LibDems in protest over Tory policy on Brexit. Lord Limerick famously wrote a limerick – what else – in his candidate statement for a hereditary peer by-election. You don’t have to be a lord to write those…

Lords are old men and they snore
But not when crossing the floor
A Tory hates Brexit
He heads for the exit
And now he’s a Tory no more.

The Earl of Limerick’s a peer
Whom once the Tories held dear
“A hard Brexit’s bad,
“Theresa is mad.”
He said as he blew his career.

“My fear for the future it stems
“From the Brexit Tim Farron condemns
‘”There’ll be queues at Calais
“To leave we must pay
“So I’m off to join the LibDems.

“Hard Brexit means certain inflation
“Jobs lost and wages stagnation
“Let migrants come in –
“It went well in Berlin –
“I wish I’d been born a Croatian.”

But while the good Earl may be frank
About his fear of a cheque that is blank
He thinks you don’t know
He was at the FCO
And then a Director of Deutsche Bank.

So let’s hope this small ditty will stick
In the mind of the Noble Lord Limerick
If you’ve taken the Ermine
But then start deserting
You just come across like a –