It's doin' me 'ead in

The prostrate pose of Jacob Rees-Smug during yesterday’s Commons debate on Brexit has brought widespread disapproval. If body language had a verbal role to play in the recorded proceedings of the Commons, then Rees-Smug would have merited some rebuke from members for his unparliamentary behaviour. But I say well done Jacob! Without uttering a word, you have encapsulated your government’s contempt for the whole shower of proles who think they, having being elected MPs, believe that entitles them to a say. I am pleased to hear that another contemptuous one, the Rasputin doppelganger Dominic Cummings is also coming in for some criticism, since it seems likely he convinced Johnson that a hardline against Tory rebels was a wise idea. This is backfiring badly. I suspect Cummings’ days are numbered, and he will follow in the footsteps of Trump’s Rasputin, Steve Bannon into the fetid jungle of discarded die-hards. But who knows? Trump takes himself very seriously, whereas Johnson thinks the whole business is a great jape. Just as Rees-Smug has little or no self-consciousness, Johnson, having lied on so many occasions, cannot recognise now why so many people distrust him. That is, with the exception of people whose only sentient response to Brexit is to say ‘it’s doin’ me ‘ead in get it over with.’ Are we to believe that this is the great appeal which will finally break the deadlock? I suspect Johnson thinks it’s his trump card—no pun intended.