“Infamy, infamy, they’ve all got it in for me.” Fans of British comedy will recognize the cry from Kenneth Williams’s portrayal of Julius Caesar. Brexiteers take the sentiment personally, too — especially on this “Ides of March.” Britain’s political class has it in for British independence.

Brexit had a dismal week. First, the Prime Minister’s withdrawal plan endured its second defeat on Tuesday. Efforts were earnestly made to convince MPs that attempts to address the Irish border issue did not trap Britain in the EU customs union, but failed on the merits.

“No deal” Brexit went down the following day. This is particularly galling to purist Brexiteers, who see future trade agreements with Europe based on WTO guidelines as Britain’s only way to achieve true freedom. The Wall Street Journal, initially opposed to Brexit, acknowledged this week that a no-deal exit “may be the best outcome now.”

Brexit’s “unkindest cut of all” came Thursday, when parliamentarians voted to ask the EU for an Article 50 extension. If granted, the March 29 deadline is shattered. Independence may be fatally compromised.

Can Brexit be saved? Caesar’s augurer has as much chance of foreseeing the future of British independence as any political prognosticator. Let’s examine the entrails of this week for clues.

If nought happens between now and March 29, a “no deal” Brexit becomes reality. Such is the law, enshrined in two Acts of Parliament, of ratifying the 2016 referendum to exit the European Union and notifying Brussels of Britain’s resolve to leave.

Some Brexiteers, tongue-in-cheek, float the idea of asking the Queen to prorogue Parliament, sending squabbling MPs effectively to a short-term recess, away from Westminster where they do mischief to British sovereignty.

Sweet justice that, to call upon the monarch who, as “constant as the Northern Star,” has dedicated her life to Britain. Her government, sadly, falls short of such commendation.

The New York Sun, as I understand it from the editor, is in favor of Elizabeth taking this question in hand, despite protests that she’d be intruding into politics. For she did swear the coronation oath — “to govern the Peoples of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland . . . according to their respective laws and customs.” The emphasis is that of the Editor.

No such niceties impede European pols. Witness the EU’s insidious appetite, devouring national prerogatives into its omnivorous maw. Continental intrusion may this time work to Britain’s advantage, however. EU leaders want proof that additional time will produce effects and not further political mayhem. Good luck at that confection.

The political hero of Brexit, Nigel Farage, former head of the United Kingdom Independence Party, and several Tory MPs plan to lobby sympathetic member countries to veto Britain’s request for an extension. That’s because unanimity of the remaining EU27 is requisite to prolong Article 50.

So the stage is set for the week to come. Westminster is abuzz that Prime Minister May will present her withdrawal plan for a third vote. The calamitous week just passed has No. 10 thinking that spooked backbenchers and opposition MPs will succumb to the deal they twice rejected.

If successful, a short extension will be requested; if not, then a longer respite, perhaps of two years, to sort the mess out from the ground up.

Brussels favors this drawn-out affair. One reason, no doubt, is the rumored £1 billion a month pricetag Britain will pay for the privilege of getting its house in order (on top of the £39 billion earmarked in the withdrawal agreement itself). <

Your correspondent’s estimate is that Britain’s politicians will pay a heavy price for its incompetence. Britons voted enthusiastically in 2016 to regain their independence, believing “every bondman in his own hand bears the power to cancel his captivity.”

If betrayed at the very moment of realizing Brexit, the British people will know that the “fault lies not in the stars” but in their elected representatives, that they “are underlings.”

Woe betide Theresa May and piddling parliamentarians if March 29 comes to pass with Britain still “groaning underneath this age’s yoke.” Parliament “suffers then the nature of an insurrection.” Britons, scorned and abused — Leaver and Remainer alike — will rebel against their politicians.

Two weeks alone stand between Britain and its independence. If MPs blink, Brexit may be irretrievably lost for generations. Shakespeare calls them to courage:

There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves
Or lose our ventures.

________

Mr. MacLean maintains the weblog The Organic Tory.