As soon as Theresa May gave her infamous Lancaster House speech, almost two years ago, setting out a list of impossible-to-deliver demands, it became easy to predict the future. The Brexiteers superficial sound bites, empty slogans and sloppy thinking would, sooner or later, have to confront reality. The only thing that wasn't predicted - was not predictable - in early 2017 was what would happen once reality intruded into the Brexit process. Now we know - or at least part of the answer.

Former chancellor Ken Clarke has for years warned that the Europhobic wing of the Tory party would never compromise: no matter what concessions they gain, they will never be sated, they will always come back for more. He was right: the Brexit ultras have behaved as predicted and no longer bother to conceal their desire for a total rupture between the UK and Europe. Their chances of getting what they want have never been higher. They sense total victory and have adopted the methods and mantra of their new best friends, the DUP. There will be no surrender.

How can that be, given that Brexiteer fantasy has now run full tilt into the brick wall of reality? It's a weird kind of inverse car crash politics: the politicians driving the country into a wall are not the ones hurt by the collision. The spectators, particularly the poorest and most vulnerable, are the victims. Michael Heseltine has been making some magisterial speeches about all of this over recent weeks. They are well worth looking at, if only to remind ourselves that there still some decent, thoughtful politicians in the UK.

That certainty I mentioned: for the UK to leave the EU on 29th March, 2018, all that needs to happen is nothing. To put it slightly differently: to stop the hardest Brexit of all, as a matter of EU law, something very dramatic now needs to occur.