Tensions could not be higher in Westminster.
Speak to any MP and you will hear phrases and words like “uncharted waters”, “unprecedented” and “crisis”.
Theresa May’s decision to formally ask for an extension to Article 50 yesterday was no great surprise, as the motion giving her permission to do this was signed off by the Commons on March 14.
What was surprising was the reaction of European Council President Donald Tusk.
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He agreed in theory to a short Brexit delay, but only on the condition MPs pass Mrs May’s deal.
This effectively means that next week there will be a choice between her deal and a short Brexit delay or no-deal and a swift exit at 11pm on March 29.
The strategy is high risk. There may be individual MPs who blink and decide, despite all their misgivings, to vote for the deal.
But Labour, the SNP, the Lib Dems and the Independent Group have all indicated they will not bend.
That fact, coupled with the continued intransigence of the DUP and Brexiteer Tory MPs, means that Mrs May just does not have the votes for her deal – ratcheting up the likelihood of no-deal unless something dramatically changes.
Former Tory attorney general Dominic Grieve, speaking in the Commons yesterday evening, put the situation in stark terms.
He said: “Unless the prime minister stands up and starts doing something different, we are going to spiral into oblivion and the worst part of it all is that we will deserve it.”