YES, IT WAS A WRETCHED DAY. BUT I BELIEVE BORIS MAY YET DELIVER

After the debacle of Saturday’s Commons vote, I wanted to go into a darkened room and never have to think about Brexit again. I expect millions of people felt the same.

Just when it appeared possible that MPs might vote for Boris Johnson’s deal, albeit narrowly, some damn-fool amendment was passed which has apparently had the effect of pushing us further into the mire. How petty, out-of-touch and petulant many parliamentarians seemed. It was billed as a once-in-ageneration debate, yet much of the proceedings would have shamed a school debating society, though the Prime Minister’s opening statement, and Michael Gove’s closing speech, were impressive.

But easy though it is to give in to despair, I’m going to stick out my neck and express some optimism that this maddening saga could soon be over. Or, to put it more judiciously, I don’t think the situation is as hopeless as it might seem.

Let’s look, for a moment, at the plus side. Mr Johnson closed a deal with Brussels last thursday which many commentators and general know-alls had declared unachievable. It’s not perfect, of course. But it’s an awful lot better than No Deal, and offers a reasonable way out of the mess we’re in.

And although the PM has unfortunately lost the support of the Democratic Unionist Party, which invariably judges what is best for Britain through the narrow prism of its own selfinterest, he has reunited his own party more successfully than almost anyone imagined.

Many people (myself included) thought that if the DUP rejected his deal, many members of the hardline tory erG group would do the same in a spirit of solidarity. this hasn’t happened. Only a handful of erG ultras may hold out.

THAt means that whether the PM’s deal is put to the test today via a so-called meaningful vote (if Speaker Bercow allows it), or tomorrow via the second reading of the Withdrawal Bill, previously warring Conservatives will rally around the same flag.

former disgruntled tory remainers such as Nick Boles and the egregious Oliver Letwin (author of Saturday’s tomfoolery) will, figuratively speaking, join hands with erG hard nuts such as Steve Baker and Mark francois. theresa May never managed to pull this off. Boris has.

It’s perfectly true that, deprived of DUP support, even an almost united tory tribe will not generate enough votes for the deal to pass. the Prime Minister will need the backing of at least a dozen pro-Leave Labour MPs. But that is not an incredible prospect.

Moreover, the eU (on which institution the Prime Minister calculatedly lavished tributes on Saturday) is not minded to give an instant response to the request for an extension which he has been forced to make by the Benn Act.

By the way, I think the PM got around this business rather cleverly by sending the letter he was legally obliged to compose without a signature, and accompanying it with another, which was signed, making clear he doesn’t want an extension. Labour may call it ‘childish’ but it seems pretty smart to me.

the fact is that no one can be certain the eU will grant an extension. Agreement by all 27 countries is required. MPs who hold out against Boris’s deal will have to contend with the thought that, if Brussels doesn’t play ball, they may find themselves falling into the abyss of No Deal of which they are so terrified.

So for all these reasons, I am not as down in the dumps as I was after spending my Saturday watching MPs waste everyone’s time, including their own. But I have to admit, of course, that it will be far from plain sailing.

even if the Government squeezes through a meaningful vote, assuming one is held, remainer MPs will harry it as it tries to pass the legislation which must be completed if the UK is to leave the eU by October 31.

It is now certain, for example, that Labour will this week throw its weight behind an amendment in favour of a second referendum. there are rumours that the DUP — which seems to be regretting its support for Brexit — might throw in its lot with Labour, the Scot Nats and Lib Dems.

What would happen if such an amendment were passed, God alone knows. Opposition parties are in no position to draw up the complex legislation that would be required for a second referendum, and Boris Johnson would not wish to do so. An election would surely have to follow.

remainer MPs will doubtless come up with all sorts of delaying tactics in what are likely to be the most momentous ten days so far in our apparently neverending Brexit nightmare.

Yet it seems to me that one can easily overthink potential pitfalls. the truth is that no one can be sure whether or how the Government will cope with the innumerable parliamentary difficulties that lie ahead.

But my reasons for being cautiously optimistic ultimately depend on another thought. Although Parliament is supposed to be the highest court in the land, there is in fact a higher and more important one: public opinion.

All the evidence is that in this court the Prime Minister is winning the argument with his determination to ‘get Brexit done’ by October 31. On Saturday, this newspaper’s Survation poll suggested that 50 per cent of people wanted the Commons to approve his deal, as against 38 per cent who didn’t. Not that MPs took any notice.

BOrIS JOHNSON is dynamic and optimistic and knows what he wants, whereas his opponents are weak and divided and, in the case of Jeremy Corbyn, muddled and almost comically unimpressive. It’s no surprise the PM’s personal ratings, and those of his party, have been rising.

Sooner or later, there will have to be an election, however frightened Mr Corbyn and Labour are of one. I believe the electorate will favour the leader who has demonstrated conviction and stuck to his principles, and has done his utmost to fulfil his promise of getting this country out of the eU.

Hard though it may be to see how Boris can avoid all the snares and ambushes of the coming days, there is reason to believe that he will finally deliver us from the hell we’re living in.