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Parliament is parlaying for all it is worth, but is it getting any closer to a solution? Finding a majority for this, that or the other Brexit is fast resembling the quest for a proof of

Fermat’s Last Theorem. That quest lasted 367 years. Even Kenneth Clarke hasn’t been around for that long. No wonder the public is getting the impression that the Government has lost its

grip. Yesterday the Chief Whip — a shadowy figure who is not meant to be seen, let alone heard — was shown publicly denouncing the Cabinet as “the most indisciplined in British political

history”. Today that same Cabinet is due to be warned about the perils of a general election. The idea is to frighten the remaining rump of ERG Brexiteers into voting for Mrs May’s deal. But

Steve Baker, their unofficial spokesman, is still ready to bring down the Government rather than give in on the Irish backstop. Yesterday’s round of “indicative voting”, meanwhile, ended

without a consensus — mainly because, despite the presence of a free vote, there were informal whipping operations on both sides of the House. Nick Boles, once seen as a future Tory leader,

resigned the whip “because my party refuses to compromise”. To paraphrase W.B. Yeats: parties fall apart when the centre cannot hold. The only person who seems to have some idea what is

going on is Sir Oliver Letwin. He has taken charge of the parliamentary agenda and appears to enjoy the confidence of a broad cross-party body of opinion. But his solution to the Brexit

conundrum is being compared by critics to a Heath Robinson device. In a column for the Sunday Times, Dominic Lawson dubbed him “the Professor Branestawm of British politics”, which was a

little unkind. Yet the professor is reassuring as well as ingenious inventor. So is Sir Oliver. If we need an unelected Prime Minister because the elected one is malfunctioning, the country

could do a great deal worse than turn to a man of such transparent decency. What, though, is to be done? Philip Hammond is reported to be warning that unless the Cabinet comes up with its

own compromise proposal, a second referendum is inevitable because an election would be suicidal. The Chancellor is a chilly presence who normally remains aloof — but he is the Chancellor.

He may not have the power to broker a Brexit compromise; he could, though, push a Government that is already teetering on the brink over the edge. In the end, something — or someone — has to

give. The EU might make a new offer. But that is unlikely, because the Brussels  bureaucracy has the British on the back foot and the national governments that might have put pressure on

the former are exasperated by the latter. Parliament’s indecision is final. Or so it seems. So it may indeed be time to go to the country. An election would not be solely about Brexit, but

would rather resemble the one called by Edward Heath in February 1974 on the issue of “who governs Britain?” That was a disaster for him and for the Tories. So we can safely rule out an

election now. That leaves a second referendum. That too was a disaster for another Conservative Prime Minister, David Cameron. But it might be the price that the EU demands for a longer

extension. Is the Government prepared to pay that price? This is the question to which the Cabinet must give an answer today.