It will also feed into the Brexiteer narrative of plucky Briton facing down the big, bad, inflexible EU.

Little matter that the EU is acting largely to protect the interests of a much smaller member state, Ireland, and the voiceless nationalist community in N. Ireland. Sinn Fein is coming in for a lot of criticism in Ireland for its abstentionist policy in Westminster which means that DUP politicians can claim, without blushing, to be speaking on behalf of both communities in N. Ireland.

Sinn Fein's 7 MPs in Westminster may or may not make a crucial difference to the numbers game in Westminster if they took their seats, but it would certainly change the media narrative currently dominated by the DUP.

Index of Frank's Diaries