Mr Johnson's win-win course?

Our new prime minister A B  de P Johnson (I shall try to avoid calling him Boris because that plays into his technique of deflecting criticism by pretending to be a joker) has followed Paddy Ashdown's rule and  "hit the ground running."

Mr Johnson  has made outrageous and undeliverable promises, purged the cabinet of all criticism rather than seeking the usual balance (at least in his party) and stands a chance of converting much of the North to his cause by promising a high-speed rail line between Leeds and Manchester.

Some of the commentators claim has has boxed himself into a corner. I strongly suspect that he has created for himself a win-win situation.

If, as seems to me extremely unlikely, his up-beat bravado actually does produce another deal from the Europeans. even if the deal is only a cosmetic tweak of Mrs May's, the sycophantic press will hail him as a hero, Tory MPs will be delighted and they will go into an election go as the likely winners.

If, as is much more likely, Johnson fails in his quest for a deal and we "crash out" on the 31st October, (which is precisely what the Tory extremist  ERG want) he and the sychophantic press will blame the intransigent Europeans, Johnson will be praised for his determination and being a man of his word, his "that will show them" gung-ho attitude will be portrayed  as a revival of Britain's bulldog spirit and again the Tories will enter a general election as a likely winners.

That, I suspect, is Johnson's game plan.

The outcome remains the more likely the longer the Labour Party continues to sit on the fence.

However even without the Labour leadership seeing the light Johnson's plan can be stopped.

There is a danger that, in the remaining three months, the debate will be narrowed down to a choice between an new-deal and no-deal.

 But  neither is anywhere near as good for the country as the deal we already have by remaining in the EU, an option with is still open to us.

A majority of MPs, from all parties, know this very well.

There is still time for our MPs to avoid the damage to the cultural, social and economic future of our country, and rescue our political reputation,  by plucking up the courage to revoke Article 50