Number 10 has conceded that a second referendum may be needed to sort out the dog’s breakfast that is Brexit. Although this is a climb down, sources close to the Prime Minister have let it be known that she is keener on the idea than she is letting on.

Government aide, Ian Napton, said, “When TM became PM, she was confident she could blame the public when it all went wrong but she’s somehow cocked it up and let the public off scott free. It should have been a doddle to say, ‘well look, you voted for this’, but she made a Horlicks of it all and is shouldering the blame.

It’s been a harsh learning experience, but now she’s thinking she can foist responsibility for any future difficult decisions on to the public by asking them to vote again. Plans are afoot to allow voting online, a bit like X Factor.”

In the meantime, the question for a second EU referendum is being quietly debated in Whitehall. The smart money is on the following yes/no question,

“If you’d known in 2016; that Boris is a (edited out), that Flying Fox was mistaken when he called Brexit the easiest negotiation in history, that major international employers would pull out of the U.K., that the Prime Minister wouldn’t know when to admit she’s wrong, that everyone would be worse off and the so-called experts would turn out to be right after all, Would you have voted to leave the EU?”

Mrs May is confident that the public will still vote “yes” to leave the EU. Senior colleagues share her belief. After all, 17 million people didn’t listen last time, did they? Why would they listen now?

Amazingly, Brexit continues.