OF course, in the end the collapse came as no great surprise.

The cross-party talks had always seemed like the Conservatives and Labour were engaged in a Brexit charade.

The body language and, indeed, the language from both sides before and after every Whitehall meeting gave no one any real hope Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn would one day stand on the steps of Downing St and declare a compromise had been done.

Ministers were privately saying throughout the talks were doomed; politically, there was nothing in them for the Labour leader.

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For the PM’s part, it was the Labour split over a second referendum that caused the collapse; for Mr Corbyn’s, it was the fact that any deal agreed with Mrs May could be ripped up a few weeks down the line by her successor. Both were valid points.

So, what now? The PM had promised to set up a series of indicative votes, later described as “definitive votes,” to see which option could gain a consensus in the Commons. But Mrs May’s pledge, that the Government would abide by any consensus MPs agreed on, had one condition; that Mr Corbyn would also agree to it.

Yet, when asked about the definitive votes exercise, the Labour leader gave a non-committal response. Indeed, a senior No 10 source made clear no decision had been made to stage the options process.

With only next week available to hold such a round of votes, the Government will have to pull its finger out.

Then, of course, next week there are the European elections; the Tories are bracing themselves for disaster. One poll suggested six out of 10 Conservative supporters will vote for Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party.

READ MORE: Brexit timeline ahead

After that there is the crunch vote on the Withdrawal Agreement Bill, scheduled for the week of the Trump state visit when over two days the US President, Mrs May and other world leaders will commemorate the sacrifice of thousands of allied soldiers during WW2.

One minister suggested the vote might never take place; that after the Euro-poll drubbing Cabinet ministers might seek to “put the PM out of her misery” and demand their leader steps down before she suffers another Commons humiliation.

Whenever Mrs May bids goodbye to Downing St, the summer will be filled with another psychodrama: the Conservative beauty contest. Be warned it could drag on for months.

A Tory source suggested the “stop Boris campaign” will be cross-border and subtle rather than full-throated; no Conservative wants to arm Nicola Sturgeon and her “demonising” of the former Foreign Secretary any more than is necessary.

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But if Mr Johnson gets into the final two candidates’ play-off, then the thinking is he will win given he is the darling of the English shire Tories.

With no agreement, the new PM will have to have a new strategy as the clock ticks towards the EU’s deadline of Hallowe’en.

The choice could be no-deal or revocation. Yet another horrifying prospect for most MPs and the public. If you thought things were bad now…