It is time to pull the mighty down from their thrones. There are ardent Brexiteers for whom the only issue in the coming general election is to “get Brexit done”, in the words of the fatuous slogan that Boris Johnson works into almost every sentence. There are Corbynites for whom their single goal, to install their leader Jeremy Corbyn in 10 Downing Street, dwarfs all others. But neither of these two groups of implacable zealots will decide the outcome. That lies with those millions who regard each of the two main parties as equally undeserving of their confidence, but who know there is a difficult duty to be performed at a polling station near them next Thursday. The health of British democracy depends on it. They should be of good cheer, for they hold the key.

The forthcoming democratic process needs to contrive a result that tells politicians on all sides that they have been rumbled and are not to be trusted. They are asking for a full measure of power: in the case of the Conservatives and Labour Parties, they want absolute control of the House of Commons for the next five years or so. It would very much serve them right if the reply, delivered as the results tumble in next Friday morning, was an unambiguous “No!”, and the only government the electorate was prepared to tolerate was one “in chains” – on probation, and forced to compromise with other political points of view if it hoped to exert any sort of power. It would be an administration subject to effective checks and balances virtually every day, with the Sword of Damocles hanging over it in the shape of a definitive Commons defeat followed by another bruising encounter with the electorate.