Reckless, bold, audacious, sinister, a coup: the move by Boris Johnson to shut down Parliament has inevitably opened up another front in the attritional warfare over Brexit.

Within the space of 24 hours, more than 1.25 million people have signed a petition demanding the government back down; a number of protests have been held in towns and cities and the move looks set to be one of the reasons why the Scottish leader Ruth Davidson is set to quit.

Hardly an average day in politics.

The idea that this debate is all about whether the Prime Minister has breached Parliamentary convention and driven a coach and horses through various constitutional protocols is, of course, nonsense.

You won’t find many Brexiteers complaining about prorogation; and you don’t have to look far to find “remainers” who see it as a huge conspiracy designed to halt MPs from passing legislation to block a no-deal.

Still, Boris Johnson has caught his opponents off guard; the question now is whether he has narrowed the opportunities available to them to act before the doors are locked.

Meanwhile, the former business minister and Tunbridge Wells MP Greg Clark has put his head above the Brexit parapet to voice his concern, tweeting that given the importance of the whole issue, MPs should be getting more time.

In contrast, the Ashford MP Damian Green has posted a series of tweets, the gist of which are that complaints about shutting down Parliament are “massively overblown” and that MPs will still have plenty of time to put forward proposals.

The Leader of the House Jacob Rees-Mogg, in a confectionary-themed sound bite, was brutally dismissive of those unhappy with the move to shut down Parliament:

"The candyfloss of outrage we've had over the last 24 hours, which I think is almost entirely confected, is from people who never wanted to leave the European Union," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

With MPs returning to Westminster next week, expect more of this kind of thing - although it's doubtful they will be sharing packets of Love Hearts...

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