THE embattled Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has become the latest whipping boy in the seemingly interminable saga of Brexit. He has been branded by Labour as the worst Transport Secretary in Britain’s history, alongside inevitable demands that he be sacked forthwith.

His problems date from the moment he appointed a company, with no experience in this field and – worse still – the owner of no ships, to run a ferry service from Ramsgate in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

Needless to say, he was mercilessly ridiculed for this. Now, that plan has been dropped amid cries of “I told you so” from his critics. But all that was merely just another twist in the Gordian knot of the negotiations as a whole.

So what happens next, as the sorry story of Brexit grinds on? Which side will blink first? Britain is hoping that at last the stubborn, greedy Brussels negotiators accept or promote a concession that will be acceptable to Parliament. Or is that just a pipe dream? Brexit has not thrown up much goodwill over the past few months and it is probably too much to expect it now,

But we have to live in even the slimmest of hope that that goodwill might at last prevail. It is a long shot, however.

THE very idea that an MP should be bullied out of Parliament by her own constituency party – or indeed anybody – is nothing short of monstrous. Labour’s Luciana Berger had the temerity to criticise the apparent anti-semitism in the party.

Disgracefully, this led to a motion of no confidence in her being put before her constituency party in the Liverpool seat of Wavertree. This, if it had been allowed to go through, would have signalled the end of the political career of a hard-working, popular and highly effective MP. Happily, common sense, not cruelty, prevailed and the motion was withdrawn.

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Now, unsurprisingly, there are moves to wind up this party. But first things first. The party is now being investigated by the Labour Party as a whole. So much for the often-repeated claim that the Labour Party is a broad church which welcomes all people of a left-of-centre stance.

But what a sad commentary on the state of British politics today that such savage and dictatorial action should even be contemplated. No wonder people are becoming increasingly reluctant to enter the world of politics, if they are to be treated in this scandalous way.

SOME people certainly have money to burn – in a very literal sense. An individual who seems to have more money than sense, has just blown £2,700 on a 1943 cigar allegedly partly smoked by Winston Churchill. How can he ever be sure that it is an authentic relic of the great wartime leader? But even if it is – so what? Does he put it in a glass case and proudly show it off to his less than impressed friends?

I can understand the keenness of some people to collect wartime memorabilia. But I would not put the stub of an 80-plus-year-old cigar in that category. It is a bit like purchasing a bottle of Victorian wine, which may be full of ditch-water because the purchaser will never drink it.