Increasingly, the Coalition parties view the 2019 election as Napoleon’s retreating armies viewed the retreat from Russia: likely ignominious defeats on the move were still better than the certainty of dying from a stationary exposure. Unlike Napoleon’s army, though, there are too few knapsacks left among the Liberal infanterie which could still hide a baton. Indeed, the old guard and chasseurs have long since departed. Like Napoleon’s invasion of Russia, the Coalition’s six years in government have been, simply, a disaster for its purported cause. We are now at the battle of Leipzig stage, with a fatal retreat to the Paris of the Opposition benches not far off, either.

Battle of Leipzig, by Ernst Strasberger: The day after the battle.