WITH the lull in Brexit theatre during parliamentary recess, broadcasters have resorted to over-analysis to fill the time.

Recently, I watched a segment on Sky news, entitled Body Language of Brexit where I learned that Theresa May is a bit awkward, Jeremy Corbyn doesn't always mean what he says, and Nigel Farage frequently flicks his tongue to express his distaste. The gesture apparently stems from a baby's instinct to stick out its tongue to reject its mother's milk.

Brexit means breastmilk, or something.

The feverishness with which we have salivated over the intricacies and interpersonal dramas of Brexit is linked to the collective helplessness we have felt over the lack of progress thus far.

In these early days of 2019 we have a Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration that – despite the titles and privileges bestowed on critics of May's deal in the New Year's Honour's list – still has little chance of getting through parliament.

What that means for Britain's exit from the EU is dependent on who you ask. If the deal is voted down later this month, we could either be heading for a No Deal scenario, a People's Vote – or no Brexit at all. The government have assured us that there is no plan B; it's either Theresa May's deal or a tinned-goods bonanza with our currency pegged to the market value of Spam.

Last year was defined by and remembered for its chaotic disingenuousness. A sleekit year: where even the parliamentary wheeling and dealing was shambolic and directionless.

The Conservative party, once famed for their dispassionate brutality in dispatching with their leaders, couldn't even get that right.

It was towards the end of 2018 that we really saw these cold-blooded political predators morph into satire. Outside the Palace of Westminster, Jacob Rees-Mogg told the assembled press and broadcasters that he had no confidence in the Prime Minister.

He calculated that his rallying cry would prompt a flurry of no-confidence letters to be sent to Chairman of the 1922 committee, Sir Graham Brady. Full of Eton-honed over-confidence, Rees-Mogg assured us that the challenge was on.

We waited. And waited. Then, as underwhelming as a damp firework on a dark November night, it became clear that May was safe – for a while, at least.

Weeks later, when the required letters did eventually trickle in, the vote was held, and Theresa May remained in place.

May is not a leader gifted with the political powers of persuasion and manipulation, yet she survived the first real attempt to oust her largely thanks to the ineptitude of her opponents.

We have come to understand that this truly awful Prime Minister: this tin-eared and robotic excuse for a leader is a fitting mascot for our lacklustre and log-jammed parliament.

While the prime minister is ultimately responsible for the bungled Brexit negotiations, so too are MPs, for their inability to force her hand. In this prevailing Brexit crisis, Jeremy Corbyn has played a significant role. He is man so unsuitable for the toils of leadership that he has managed to confound his critics by achieving the impossible: getting progressively worse as time went on.

As his supporters have become most ardent in their defence of him, Corbyn has shirked his responsibilities.

Corbyn's hostility towards the media – coupled with his indecisiveness over Brexit – have made Labour a party of such low bandwidth that they are constantly buffering. Talent languishes on the backbenches; shamefully under-utilised at a time when it is most desperately needed. Sir Keir Starmer has put in an exemplary shift as shadow Brexit secretary but his effectiveness has been curtailed by his party's vague offering.

We've seen a disastrous Prime Minister facing an incompetent leader of the opposition and a parliament so entrenched in its different factions that you get the sense that nobody is in charge. The grown-ups have left the room.

As 2019 begins, as dizzy with uncertainty as the year we left behind, we may allow ourselves some cautious optimism that the recess has focused the minds of our parliamentarians.

There is little we can be sure of, but we do know this: Theresa May cannot unite her warring party with this or any other deal. Jeremy Corbyn won't win over either Labour leave or remain voters by flip-flopping on his party's position.

The time for political courage is long-overdue. Over the course of last year; gradually and without consultation, leadership became optional. Until now, it may have been politically expedient for our leaders to delay and dither, but time is running out.

In politics, anger is useful when it is channelled towards change. When it is transformed into actionless whining by critical voices with the capacity to force that change, it becomes meaningless.

We can only hope that over the recess MPs propensity for grandstanding has waned. Their thoughts may have wandered to their New Year's resolutions. ''Live up to my responsibilities'' is appropriately vague for the political times we are living in but ultimately it may be the best we can hope for.