Just when MPs shut down parliament for a five-week "break" they could all be heading back to Westminster.

In the topsy-turney world of Brexit, judges have ruled the Prime Minister acted unlawfully in proroguing parliament.

Their ruling made it quite plain the motives of the PM were not to do with preparing for a Queen's Speech but because it would shut down debate on that sensitive issue of the UK's withdrawal from the EU.

In a summary of their view, judges said Mr Johnson was motivated in his decision to prorogue by the "improper purpose of stymying parliament".

The government has said it will appeal and is resisting the inevitable demands from the opposition parties to return before that appeal is heard.

It is tempting to say that it may be no bad thing for MPs to be out of the public eye for a while, although five weeks of invisibility is rather too long.

Their showboating on Monday, when opposition MPs staged a sit-in and waved placards and chanted at the Conservatives as they left the chamber, came across as a pre-planned rather than spontaneous protest.

Meanwhile, there has been an interesting development - or actually a non-development - in the selection of a Liberal Democrat candidate for the Canterbury seat.

Selection was due to take place tomorrow, but the national party has ordered that it is postponed.

One explanation might be that party chiefs are keeping potentially winnable seats open for big-name defectors.

If that is the case, it would make for an even more interesting three-way battle.

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