We live in a “representative democracy” – or so we tell ourselves. But who or what is the present parliament representing? Not the majority in the country, as expressed by in the 2016 referendum and the 2017 general election. Some two thirds of constituencies voted for Brexit – a vote that would give an unprecedented landslide majority in a parliamentary election – and yet most MPs still support Remain.

We would have to go back rather a long way to find a precedent, to a time when “democracy” was a dirty word.