GIBRALTAR has become the first crisis hotspot as the Brexit negotiations get underway – scarcely before the ink has dried on the letter Theresa May wrote triggering Article 50 to set the wheels rolling.

But the political hotheads should all cool down and stop running ahead of themselves.

Both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, have made clear that the UK has no intention of giving up The Rock to Spain unless the inhabitants of Gibraltar say they would prefer to live under Spanish rule – an outcome that is highly unlikely.

And Lord (Michael) Howard, a former Tory leader, has daringly gone a stage further by saying that May would be as firm about Gibraltar as Margaret Thatcher was over the Falklands – a comment that has been regarded as saying there would be a willingness to go to war over the issue.

Needless to say, their opponents have accused the Tories of sabre-rattling. This is scarcely the best way for these long and difficult Brexit negotiations to start.

Let us hope everyone calms down before things get out of hand.

THE grumpy behaviour of the Parliamentary Labour Party towards Jeremy Corbyn in the Commons is damaging the party and is disconcerting to their leader. They should snap out of it.

You might think Corbyn’s position could scarcely get any worse now that the New Statesman magazine, long regarded as the Labour Party Bible, has launched an attack on him and his leadership.

Corbyn has been the target of brickbats from all quarters, yet he soldiers on manfully. But his position could be immeasurably improved by a change in attitude by the Parliamentary Labour Party.

At the moment, during Prime Minister’s question time in the Commons, they largely sit there stony-faced, not offering even a squeak of support for their leader. An occasional cheer wouldn’t go amiss.

They seem to have no idea what a negative effect it must have on Corbyn to have such grumpy “supporters”.

The worst culprit is probably Labour’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, who sits alongside Corbyn on the green benches. He just sits there like a pudding, betraying not a blink of emotion. Although these two men are not on the same wave-length politically, Corbyn has twice legitimately been elected leader and certainly deserves the support of his deputy at the very least.

It is beginning to look as though he is deliberately hostile towards the leader he should be backing. No wonder the Labour Party is in such dire straits.

IS the incessant use of the term “Brexit” driving you bonkers?

One exasperated correspondent has written to a national newspaper, pleading for a Brexit-free Holy Week. That would be a blessing, but it isn’t going to happen.

For myself, I am getting so obsessed about it that I am inadvertently using the word “Brexit” when I am talking about breakfast.