After a week like this, does the EU even want us to stay? | John Crace

Johnson being a liar, Labour tearing itself apart, Dave causing trouble ... this week had it all

I’m not sure if I will ever see a more extraordinary day in Westminster. It began with John Bercow making a 15-minute statement in which he announced he would be standing down by 31 October. After that, dozens of MPs – almost all of them from the opposition parties, apart from Michael Gove who is the Tories’ go-to man for insincerity – spent the best part of 90 minutes calling for points of order to praise Bercow for his role in defending parliament against the executive, standing up for backbenchers and promoting gender and race equality. All of which was true, though it was curious no one thought to mention the allegations of bullying and losing his temper with staff that have persisted throughout his time in office. Bercow merely basked in the attention and congratulated each MP for their perspicacity. Then the government lost two more debates: the first a demand that it publish the details of no-deal Brexit planning and the prorogation; the second a vote to force a general election, taking Boris Johnson’s record to played six, lost six. Strictly speaking, he’s also lost a couple more votes, but in parliamentary terms these are counted as pre-season friendlies. The session ended at about 2am with the Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle sitting on the Speaker and other opposition MPs staging their own protests to try to delay prorogation. Much more of this and the EU wouldn’t have us back even if we got on our knees and begged.