“This parrot is no more. He has ceased to be. Expired. If you hadn’t nailed him to his perch, he’d be pushing up the daisies. He’s shuffled off, run down the curtain, and joined the bleeding choir invisible. This is an ex-parrot!”

And so too is Angela Rayner now an ex-deputy prime minister. Gone to join the choir invisible of Labour ministers on the backbenches.

There was an inevitability to this saga.

The unceremonious kicking out of Louise Haigh for a spent minor conviction from her youth (which she had previously declared) was a bar set so high no-one would pass the threshold.

Noel Doran: Jim Gavin gambit makes for intriguing Irish presidential election

Chris Donnelly: In times that test us, leadership is required

Whatever about the advice the former deputy PM took, this story has been simmering for months.

There’s only ever one opportunity........

© The Irish News