“It was 90 minutes of nothing,” one EU source said. “She didn’t even give clarity if she is organising a vote. Asked three times what she would do if she lost the vote, she couldn’t say. It was fooking awful. Dreadful. Evasive even by her standards.”

Around a dozen EU leaders peppered the British prime minister with questions. Did she have a plan B? How was she going to gain a majority? When would she hold the vote? “She very much dodged these questions,” a second EU source said. A third source said: “She was not convincing. It was not clear if she had a plan B; it was not clear if she had a plan at all.”

There has to be someone, anyone else we can send to conduct these discussions. Could we roll out the royal family? Olivia Coleman?