It is time Theresa May began to pull out of the long dark tunnel that is the “mad riddle” of Brexit. The alternative is to lead her country deeper into the unknown. She must realise this – the Brexit clock is ticking ever more loudly – and it explains why she has summoned her Cabinet to a showdown at Chequers. There is no guarantee she will succeed. And if success merely means holding her Government together, that will fall a long way short of solving the basic problem: proposing a future relationship with the European Union that will benefit the people of the United Kingdom and that the EU will accept.