The news is not all bad for supporters of Leave. But a weakened Government needs third party support to deliver not so much a Soft or Hard Brexit as a clean one.
For all the chatter about the Customs Union, leaving the EU in full is still on course. But May’s bungled election has raised the chances of a disorderly outcome.
There are only five days to go until the start of the Brexit negotiations. May cannot afford to make a reshuffle mess of a department from which she has now lost two Ministers.
He also insists that the Government is pursuing the “same strategic policy” over Brexit as it was before the election.
No word of sympathy for Theresa May could be heard. The speculation was whether David Davis or Boris Johnson would succeed her.
Plus: An apology on behalf of the pundits, the press, the pollsters, the politicians and the parties for calling this election utterly, totally and completely wrong.
It can be risky to do, and hard to get right, but the alternative is unacceptable.
The Brexit Secretary wants “as far as possible, within the grounds of propriety, to not let this put us off” the democratic course.
As we write, the Conservatives are still set for a win on Thursday, but there is risk of further slippage – unless key voters can be persuaded that Corbyn will crash the car.
A massive poll lead. Going early. A wooden leader. Mindless mantras. A despised opposition. And then collapse. The parallels are uncanny: why didn’t Crosby warn her?