IF there’s one thing we’ve all learned in the last three years, it’s how quickly the extraordinary and the downright bizarre can come to seem normal.

A misogynist man-child in the White House? Sure, why not. Russia steering the outcome of big democratic votes in foreign states? But of course. Britain crashing out of the largest free trade bloc in the world on the unachievable premise of making major cuts to immigration? Hey, whatever.

We’ve drifted a long way into the twilight zone – Andrea Leadsom nearly became Prime Minister, lest we forget. But we don’t have to get stuck here. There’s still a fight to be had, over Brexit.

Now, I’m not going to rehearse once again the arguments of the EU referendum, revisit the breezy lies told by Leavers about the bounty Brexit would bring, the cynical exploitation of anti-immigrant sentiment or the way complex but crucially important matters were sidestepped.

But it is worth reminding ourselves that it was a painfully narrow result, that the under-50s strongly opposed it, as did Scotland and Northern Ireland, and that the polls suggest UK-wide sentiment has changed since June 2016, with a majority of the public – like MPs – now narrowly in favour of staying in the EU and a firm majority keen to stay in the single market and customs union.

What this underlines is that Brexit has become increasingly unpopular as the reality of what it would mean has sunk in, and that a hard Brexit, as favoured by the UK Government, on Jacob Rees-Mogg’s tight leash, is a minority fetish.

Regrettably, it hasn’t seemed that way of late. Since Theresa May agreed the outlines of a divorce settlement with the EU, and the broad terms of a transition deal, as well as setting out priorities for a trade agreement, the momentum, unusually, has been with the Government.

This is not to say that Theresa May and David Davis have done a convincing job, even on their own terms: no settlement to the Northern Ireland question, no answer to how to protect British fishermen, the end of passporting rights for banks – the list goes on. It is simply that commentators and public alike are so gobsmacked that the Government’s chaotic approach to Brexit has produced even tentative agreement from the EU, albeit littered with caveats, that they have been struck dumb temporarily in the reporting of opposition to the enterprise.

But that opposition hasn’t gone away, and is more representative of the majority view than the Government’s position. Nerve agent attacks on the streets of Britain and air strikes in Syria have understandably shifted attention for a while, but the battle over Brexit – the battle over what modern Britain now stands for – continues. There will be more crises for the Government as the paucity of realism in its position is exposed and it becomes ever clearer that leaving the EU is a lot worse than being in it.

In the mean time, the House of Lords has launched an offensive which has exposed the Government’s weakness and put Brexit back on to the agenda. You might not have thought so watching the BBC coverage on Wednesday night, in which the Government’s defeat by a sizeable majority of peers on the EU Withdrawal Bill came half way down the news schedule, but this is a dangerous moment for that minority group of avid pro-Brexit fanatics who have until now had an overbearing influence on the Prime Minister.

The Lords’ amendment, which aims to keep open the possibility of the UK remaining in a customs union, will compel the Commons to vote on the matter next month and that will test how many Tory MPs are prepared to side with Labour, Liberal Democrat and SNP MPs. Yesterday, a cross-party group of MPs from the Liaison Committee ratcheted up the pressure still further by forcing a vote as soon as next week on Britain having “an effective customs union” with the EU. Though not binding, it will weaken the PM’s position if it goes against her.

Up until now, many Tory MPs with troubled consciences who oppose leaving the world’s largest trading bloc have dodged making their position clear, but a vote on this matter would – or at least should – expose their strength of feeling and make the Cabinet’s resistance to customs union membership much less tenable. The fight is on.

The Government’s response to peers, including 24 rebellious Tories, was predictable – it had ruled out membership of the customs union and did not intend to devote any further thought to the matter. Well, I recognise that approach. It’s the one parents take with awkward children when they know they don’t have a strong enough argument to make a persuasive case. The Government is trying to prevent its opponents prising open the debate by simply refusing to enter the conversation; fat chance.

Predictably, arch Brexiters Lord Lawson and former Scottish Secretary Lord Forsyth have complained in exasperated tones that voters would take a dim view of attempts to derail their version of Brexit. But no matter how they might wish it to be so, voting to leave the EU was not a vote to leave the single market and customs union. And voters reserve the right to change their mind on the fundamental question, as they appear to be doing. No wonder Lord Lawson evinced an air of panic.

So it isn’t over yet, not by a long way. While the Government comes under pressure to change its stance on the customs union, it is also facing fresh calls to give way to a public vote on the final Brexit deal. The People’s Vote campaign, which launched this week fronted by the actor Sir Patrick Stewart, has a strong case. After all, due to the lack of an overarching Leave campaign or a Scottish independence-style blueprint for what Brexit would look like, Leave voters hadn’t much of a clue about what they were really voting for. They – we all – deserve a meaningful vote.

Alas, the biggest threat the pro-EU movement faces now is public apathy. The polls may show weakening resolve on leaving the EU but many voters are also bored of Brexit. What could change that? Well, a political crisis could – and that may not be far off.