BREXIT is now firmly in the realm of Alice in Wonderland; as Humpty Dumpty famously said: “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean.”

Earlier this week, David Mundell made clear there was one choice before MPs: Theresa May’s deal, which was the “best deal available,” or no-deal.

“The alternative,” argued the Scottish Secretary, “is not some other deal, it’s no-deal and that would be disastrous for Scotland and the rest of the UK and something I could not contemplate.”

Yet on Wednesday morning, Amber Rudd, the Work and Pensions Secretary, popped up to declare Parliament would stop a no-deal; so there would have to be an alternative.

During PMQs, Mrs May told MPs that it was now a three-way split: her deal; no-deal or “no Brexit at all”.

Later, when asked by her onetime Cabinet colleague Esther McVey if Britain would leave the EU next March “come what may,” the PM assured the Cheshire MP the country would be outwith the Brussels bloc on March 29.

Mrs May is now suggesting to her Brexiteer brethren that if they defy her, the consequence could be MPs voting for a People’s Vote, which could result in Britain staying in the EU; no Brexit.

No 10 failed to clear the fog. A spokesman noted how last week the PM had said that if MPs voted down her deal, “nobody can know for sure the consequences that will flow from that; it would be to take a path of deep and grave uncertainty”.

But when it was pointed out Mrs May had given Ms McVey an assurance on leaving the EU, the spokesman replied: “The PM is determined she is going to ensure that we leave the EU on March 29, which is what the British people voted for.”

Hang on. Ms Rudd said a no-deal was not possible and Mrs May said there could be no Brexit if MPs rejected her deal, so how could she say for certain the UK would leave the EU next March? No 10 simply repeated how the PM was determined to get her deal through – and that was that.

Of course, one of the many complicating factors in this game of 3D political chess is that the Democratic Unionists, whose 10 MPs prop up the minority Tory Government, are in a huff over the withdrawal plan, believing it sets out the path to the break-up of the UK.

Earlier this week, Mrs May and her colleagues had the humiliation of a) seeing the DUP vote against part of the Finance Bill and b) accepting opposition amendments for fear if they went to a vote, they would be voted down thanks to Nigel Dodds and his chums.

No 10, in another show of bravado, insisted the so-called confidence and supply deal with the DUP, was "intact". Another insider declared: “I’m not aware of any change to its status,” noting how the DUP itself had said it was still alive.

Hang on. The DUP are breaching the deal by voting against the Government. But the spokesman noted how it was only one vote and “we won it”; by five votes.

Asked if the PM could rely on the DUP, he replied: “I have given you my answer.”

Earlier during a less-than-easy PMQs Mrs May had to face hostile questions not only from Jeremy Corbyn and Ian Blackford but also from some of her own MPs, urging her to change tack.

One Tory backbencher suggested that her withdrawal plan would threaten the integrity of the UK, at which the DUP’s Mr Dodds was nodding vigorously.

The Belfast North MP noted how, in the December joint UK-EU report, it was agreed Northern Ireland would have the “final say” on whether it diverged from the UK single market, the so-called “Stormont lock,” but this bit had been deleted from the draft withdrawal agreement.

Mrs May replied that the matter of regulations was for Westminster and, anyhow, Stormont had not sat for two years.

Hang on. So why put the Stormont lock in the December report anyway?

The No 10 spokesman, also noting how Stormont was not currently in existence, said he had “nothing more to add”.

So, following a bruising PMQs, Mrs May set off for Brussels for talks with Jean-Claude Juncker to try to finalise the so-called future framework that will set out Britain’s future relationship with the EU post-Brexit.

But things did not seem to be going smoothly. Surprise surprise.

One senior German diplomat warned: “It needs to be finalised or Merkel will not attend. We do not want changes to the text making it even harder for May to agree with.”

The PM finally emerged from her tea and croissants to say further progress had been made but she would be going back to Brussels for more talks on Saturday, just hours before the planned Sunday summit.

So things will, as many predicted, go to the wire and, of course, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.

As Alice would say the Brexit process is getting curiouser and curiouser.