Talk about gunpowder, treason and plot. It’s been that sort of weekend, with the exposure of Theresa May’s supposedly secret plot to keep the United Kingdom in the Customs Union, or a Customs Union, or something with the words ‘customs’ and ‘union’ in it.

I do find myself wondering how both Labour and the Liberal Democrats respond to any ‘deal’ which keeps us in the Customs Union. You might reasonably assume that there would be some Conservative rebels, and the DUP might be flaky, so, in order to get such a deal through the Commons, some Labour support might be necessary. Could Jeremy Corbyn and his team keep all of their MPs from voting with the Government? It doesn’t seem likely, and what of the Liberal Democrats?

Could we vote down a proposal which might preserve jobs and risk crashing out without a deal? Would support be a compromise too far for our members? It could be a very challenging tightrope to walk.

Meanwhile, Arron Banks had his opportunity to get his defence in early. Is he telling the truth, or what he believes to be the truth, or simply anything that might blur the issue in his favour? I have a nasty feeling that it may be a mixture of all three, but telling fact from fantasy will, fortunately, be a matter for the authorities. They can’t do a worse job than Andrew Marr, surely…

Meanwhile, next week sees the conclusion of the process of drawing up the ALDE Party manifesto for the European Parliamentary elections. And whilst it looks like we won’t be taking part in the elections themselves, if we’re going to be ‘rule takers’ rather than ‘rule makers’, it might be useful to engage in the policy making process where such an opportunity exists. We’ll hopefully be looking at that as the week progresses.

We’ve got a local government perspective on the so-called ‘end of austerity’ for your consideration, as well as a look back at one of the more controversial pieces of Coalition legislation. There’s also a piece on housing policy, and I’m hoping to squeeze in our regular(ish) review of the past week in the Lords.

So, in the hope that your week will be as interesting as I’m hoping mine will be, it’s time to start the week in three, two, one…