There was a brief moment of political optimism in this household last Tuesday when those buffoons in Parliament finally voted to approve Bunter Johnson’s deal with the European Union.

It didn’t last long! Confusion, paralysis and obstinacy still reign at the Commons, where MPs have indulged in yet more delaying tactics over Brexit. This, the ‘Mother of Parliaments’ is meant to shine out as an example to other democratic institutions but it has been transformed by a bunch of mediocrities into an arena for obstructing the electorate’s will.

Having made their apparent breakthrough on Tuesday the House then dramatically undid its good work by rejecting the timetable for the passage of the Bill, on the spurious grounds that more time is needed for debate. More time? They have been debating Brexit for over three years already damnit!

Now of course, there is little chance that the Government can meet its target of leaving by October 31. The EU seems likely to grant a delay until the end of January 2020, providing yet more scope for anti-Brexiteers to engage in wrecking tactics. The whole sorry saga could drag on for a long time yet.

What gets to me about this whole sorry saga is the manipulative dishonesty of the parliamentary saboteurs. They kept telling us that they would not support Britain’s departure without a deal, yet when presented with a workable deal, they refused to approve it. Even more shameless is their pretence that they want more time to discuss the deal. It is now 1,219 days since the referendum result yet in that time Parliament has done little except posture and pontificate. 

With a straight face, Rory Stewart, the Tory rebel, pleaded yesterday for ‘a little patience,’ ignoring the reality that the patience of the British people has been stretched to the point of despair by the antics of he and his colleagues. 

The anti-Brexiteers are not interested in debate. There is no amount of legislative scrutiny that will satisfy them, nor discussion that will change their minds. Behind the excuses, their real aims are to humiliate Bunter J and overturn Brexit. 

It seems to me though that the only one of these overpaid and ineffective pratwinkles that has the interest of the People at heart is Bunter J himself. Against all expectations and forecasts, he negotiated a compromise deal with the EU, then won a majority for it in the Commons. Not only that but he seems to have united the fractious Tory party behind him. Every single Conservative MP voted for the Second Reading of the Withdrawal Bill on Tuesday, something that would have been unthinkable only a few weeks ago. 

Just as surprisingly, he secured the backing of a band of nineteen brave Labour MPs who want to honour the referendum result. These included the Wigan MP Lisa Nandy who warned the House to ‘keep people’s trust in our democracy.’

I am sorry Ma’am but the trust of the people has long since dissipated in the hotbed of vituperative confusion that is the Mother of Parliaments. 

Strangely though, the more that Bunter J is frustrated in his aims by Parliament, the more his stock rises with the voting public. I am still not entirely sure what to make of the man but much of the electorate sees him as a warrior for British sovereignty against the Remainer-dominated political class.  This is reflected in the latest opinion polls which put the Tories thirteen points ahead of Labour. 

Come on parliamentarians, let’s have a general election please. In the absence of any spirit of cooperation at Westminster, that is the only way out of this sordid impasse. At least then we can pass our verdict on this Zombie Parliament, which has subverted democracy for far too long.

There is a mere five mile stretch of road between Princetown where I live and the nearest town – if such it can be called – at Yelverton. Last week, the road was closed to fill up a few potholes and a return journey to the Yelverton necessitated a forty-two mile round trip. I thought that was pretty appalling and not a great deal of fun, but today I read about a section of the A352 in Dorset which will be closed all next week for work to repair a sewage system. 

Although just twenty yards of carriageway will be affected, highway officials have worked out an alternative route that measures forty-one miles. The distance usually takes about a second to cover while travelling at the thirty mile per hour speed limit, but the official diversion will take an hour – drastically increasing levels of carbon dioxide emissions as well as fuel costs and precious time to motorists.Cars and lorries will detour from Godmanstone south along the A352 towards Dorchester, before turning north on the A37. Vehicles will cross the border into Yeovil, Somerset, before joining the A30 towards Sherborne. Finally, drivers will travel south back into Dorset, passing through the villages of Middlemarsh, Minterne Magna and Cerne Abbas. 

Anyone caught using the closed stretch of road will be handed a thousand pound fine. 

Where are the Extinction Rebellion nutcases when they are needed? This sort of official stupidity is what they ought to be protesting about. Campaigning against idiotically bureaucratic decisions might get them some sympathy and support.

Instead of which they prefer to disrupt the lives of thousands of ordinary people.

 A Dorset County Council spokesman said of the diversion, ‘The closure has been requested to allow Dorset Drainage Services to make a sewer connection within the highway. This is an A road so we have used other A roads for the diversion.’

What he meant is that working out a more convenient diversion route was too much trouble.  

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