The rats are fleeing – but we have to clean up the mess

So the rats are leaving the sinking ship – after enjoying their trip on the gravy train!

Fearing either rejection at the polls, or the lack of power that serving in the opposition entails, hordes of Conservative MPs are leaping like lemmings over a cliff.

To be charitable, some may have good reasons in terms of health, age, family or just time served. Some may actually have consciences and principles, and genuinely believe that they can no longer stand for a self-serving party that long ago lost its moral compass and any pretence of caring for the majority, and has drifted into murky xenophobic right-wing extremism.