THE GATE LEAP FORWARD

Here’s some news which should make Jacob Rees-Mogg wake up in a cold sweat in his pin-striped pyjamas. Staff at Number 10 are so disdainful of the 20-strong band of the most extreme Brexiteer headbangers in Jacob’s 60-member European Research Group they now refer to them dismissively as “the simples”.

Airport e-gates make returning from relaxing holidays so much less stressful.

If you’re a British or EU passport holder aged 12 or older, you can use them to get into the country within seconds.

That compares to an average wait at Gatwick of 25 minutes for manual checks for EU travellers and 45 minutes for those from elsewhere.

Those are the channels families with young children must use.

Hold-ups there are likely to get worse in a no-deal Brexit because EU passengers won’t be able to use e-gates. Immigration Minister Caroline Nokes has an idea to ease the congestion by giving access to visitors from so-called Five Eyes nations – friendly countries with which British spooks share intelligence.

The minister told me: “We’re actively working towards opening up e-gates to more nationalities.”

That means Americans, Australians, Canadians and New Zealanders would enjoy the easy entry Brits do.

If this works, Theresa May should put the minister in charge of roads.