If the Tories fall, this will be regarded as a golden age of stability

One of the hazards of writing about a government so hapless you wonder if it’s doing it all for a dare is that it could fall any minute. By the time you get to the end of this sentence, Theresa May could be cramming that last pair of heels into the back of a Pickfords van. Let’s work on the assumption that someone is in charge, nominally at least, and hope we get through the next few minutes without a minister setting their desk on fire or putting Wales on eBay.

That this is a spectacularly inept ministry is now beyond all doubt. Al Murray has a cracking stand-up routine in which his nostalgic Pub Landlord decries every government as the worst ever — except for the preceding one. Although far from their biggest sin, the Tories have ruined that joke. They are level 7 useless and May’s administration is more chaotic and directionless than any of those led by Gordon Brown, John Major and James Callaghan.