Despite the four-day parliamentary week, we have not been short of political toing and froing we have become so accustomed to in 2018: May has been backed into a corner, Boris has come out charging and there has been another frontbench sacking from Labour - again.
But yet, no business, trade body or industry has taken the Government to task in true Gina Miller fashion over Brexit. Just one businesswoman has challenged the Brexit Secretary so far and her 100 percent success rate gives hope to organisations wishing to grab the Brexit horns and shake them.
Thanks to UKIP being all but wiped off the electoral map, every major party claimed a form of victory and enjoyed a happy Bank Holiday Weekend after the local elections.
And yet, all parties are firmly in the knowledge their respective political agendas are plagued with big, underlying reputational challenges which won’t go away fast.
The Labour racism accusations appear to have died down this week (for now) but the Party is never far away from a Lords rebellion or a frontbench sacking. It actually endured both this week. Over half of Labour’s peers (not including the frontbench) defied Corbyn on a vote to stay in the single market (which the Commons will surely overturn next week) and Debbie Abrahams claims she will appeal against the decision to sack her as Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary.
Equally, Sajid Javid has settled the Windrush dust for the Conservatives for the time being. However, Theresa May received a customs partnership showdown from all sides of the frontbench, which many of us believed was shelved last week. That was until Greg Clark reignited the fire. Either way, at Trafalgar we’re not holding our breath for a smooth outcome.
Secondly, the narrow vote to reject Leveson 2.0 was a big whipping victory for Julian Smith (and thanks to some last-minute courting of backbenchers from Hugh Grant). Unlike the claimed 6-0 PMQs demolition for May, it was a much-needed feather in the cap for the Government following a couple of Lords defeats.
Such are the polarising opinions across Westminster, this week has shown that politicians in 2018 continually succeed to push their leaders into corners. However, we’re a little under 10 months away from aborting European life as we know it and the consequences could be drastic.
With opposition parties proving to be ineffective at backing the Government into a corner, there is still an opportunity for a third party to wield assertiveness and influence over a complex agenda.
Whilst the default position is to ‘ask’ and not ‘lament’ for the sake of our reputations, the Brexit media landscape is ripe for organisations to build a coalition of support to really sway the direction we are heading.