JUST when you thought the EU referendum debacle could not get any more odiously bizarre and distorted, it has taken a series of turns so surreal that Gerard de Nerval would have tripped over his lobster in surprise.

Everywhere you look figures from the murky past are emerging blinking into the light of day like lying latter-day Lazaruses (Lazari?).

Where to begin? Well we’ve had John Major and Tony Blair teaming up to spread the remain message; a senior Tory MP defecting from the Leave campaign at the 11th hour and John Redwood, a man who has spent the last decade or so failing to convince the populous that he was human, accusing George Osborne of deceit.