SO, apparently, Boris Johnson’s disgraceful performance in the Commons on Wednesday was really the fault of MPs.

Here’s the Brexiteer Tory MP Bernard Jenkin: “The problem here is that parliament promised to implement the result of the referendum and parliament has failed to do so.”

Here is Mr Johnson’s guru Dominic Cummings, after being confronted by a Labour MP saying that he and others had received more death threats: “Well, vote for a deal then.”

And here is flag-bearer of the right Julia Hartley-Brewer (Twitter followers: 192,700): “Until MPs start showing civility to the electorate by respecting their democratic vote to leave, I have just one word in response to your hysterical hand wringing and finger pointing. Humbug.”

So that’s it. No apology. No retreat. The Prime Minister will continue to use the term “surrender act” even though he’s been told countless times it implies that anti-no-deal MPs are traitors. The attack line is clear: it’s MPs’ fault that the debate is so toxic.

Now, no one would seriously deny that opponents of a no-deal Brexit have been guilty of inflammatory language too; for instance, while it’s fair enough to point out that Mr Johnson’s tactics are sometimes strikingly similar to fascist tactics – sowing division and showing scant regard for the truth – it’s not reasonable to say that he or his MPs are therefore fascists.

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And MPs including Remainers have let themselves down using violent metaphors – Ed Davey talked of an electoral alliance to “decapitate that blond head in Uxbridge and South Ruislip”, for which he later apologised. Politicians on all sides need to up their game.

But right-wing Tories who dismiss the concerns of MPs about Mr Johnson by accusing them of double standards, are cravenly side-stepping one key point: that provocative language is uniquely powerful coming from the Prime Minister himself. His intention of stoking public hostility towards parliamentarians could hardly be more blatant. It is a strategy, pursued ruthlessly and systematically.

And it’s genuinely dangerous, both to democracy and for MPs. Staff at the office of MP Jess Phillips had to be locked in yesterday after a man tried to kick the door and smash windows, shouting “fascist”. A coincidence? The saddos out there who fantasise about violence towards others are subject to social constraints; weaken those constraints by legitimising their hatred, and bad things can happen. Death threats to MPs are just hot air … until one isn’t. Boris Johnson must know that but, his remark suggesting Jo Cox’s memory is best honoured by delivering Brexit was jaw-dropping.

So what are the opposition going to do about it? That is now the key question. Up until now, opposition parties and rebel Tories have supped together with long spoons, but now is the time for a dramatic gesture. Ideas have been percolating for weeks about how a government of national unity could be formed (following a vote of no confidence); well, now is the time to pick the team. Above all, a leader is required who can command support across six party lines.

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Rebel Tories and the Labour leadership have the most ground to give, but the prize is worth it: not only ousting an unscrupulous Prime Minister, but the opportunity to reframe the EU debate entirely, as it should have been framed all along, as a choice between a softer Brexit and remaining in the EU, an approach which would, at last, have a chance of commanding majority support in the country. That is something a fetishist no-deal Brexit will never do.

It is a daring approach, admittedly, and not one obviously destined to succeed. Up until now, the moderate MPs have been Dad’s Army, well-meaning but undisciplined and easily deterred. Boris Johnson has been the well-resourced general with his army arrayed on the commanding ridge, they the band of villagers fighting uphill through boggy terrain. That’s what happens when you let your opponent pick the battleground.

But a government of national unity could change everything. Apart from a few rushed votes in the run-up to March 31, when membership of the customs union and single market were briefly discussed, there has been no meaningful examination of any option other than a hard Brexit. That is the fundamental reason for the lack of a deal so far.

Being in government would give moderate voices a new status. A rainbow coalition would arguably have greater legitimacy than the current one, since it would have the majority Mr Johnson lacks. Any such government would have the aim of removing Mr Johnson and ensuring no deal is averted; arguably it should also negotiate the deal with the EU that Mr Johnson seems unable to deliver, and legislate for a referendum.

But that would depend on a Herculean effort of good will between the parties involved. So it might well be a short-lived institution, which focused instead on using its time to advocate strongly for staying closer to the EU (business would give its enthusiastic backing). Remain should be discussed as a viable ongoing option. Voters would at last see the possibility of better, more stable, sensible alternatives than anything they have seen from Mr Johnson. No more medicine stockpiling. No more stacking up tins of beans. No more pointless anxiety.

Far-fetched? Unprecedented? What’s new. Unique events are the zeitgeist.

Ironically, Boris Johnson’s defiant actions this week have made this degree of cross-party cooperation more likely. The Prime Minister’s only chance of leaving the EU on October 31 is to agree a deal and get it through parliament, but many MPs may now be deterred from doing anything that hands him a win. His actions have also provided another bonding opportunity for his opponents.

This is not to underestimate the courage it would take for MPs to go down this path.

Yesterday, Jess Phillips also published a death threat sent to her in which she was threatened with being left “dead in a ditch” (a phrase of the Prime Minister’s) if she didn’t deliver Brexit. Jo Swinson reported a threat against her child to the police. This stuff is real and if moderate MPs gain the upper hand, it will likely get worse before it gets better.

But MPs have the opportunity to offer voters something better, and the responsibility to try.