I EXTRACTED myself from the clutches of trains and campaigning for just long enough this week to accept an invitation to a performance to commemorate one of the most important dates in British history: the 100th anniversary of the start of the Battle of the Somme.

At 7.30am on July, 1916, whistles blew, Captain Wilfred “Billie” Nevill of the East Surrey Regiment encouraged his men to blow up the footballs they would kick ahead of them in advance and hundreds of thousands of young men launched themselves into a breathtakingly bloody and ultimately fruitless battle of attrition.

This EU debate is turning out to be a bit like trench warfare. Both sides are dug in and lobbing heavy artillery over the top at each other with occasional skirmishes in no man’s land. The media reports are full of misinformation and propaganda, both sides are accusing each other of atrocities, and the two armies are relying more and more on volunteers who have no experience of warfare to exchange the blows.

But, just like in any battle, we have to step back and take a more tactical view. Clearly there are compelling reasons for both sides to be campaigning as strongly as they are and one of the pleasures of this campaign has been exchanging information and views with so many friends and constituents who have done just as much research, analysis and soul searching as me, but have come to a different decision about Britain’s future.

I sincerely hope that some of them will change their minds this week, and also that the many undecided people will agree like me that the long-term impact on our nation’s finances is not worth the benefits we might get from leaving Europe, but if they don’t I am still confident that our mutual respect and friendships will stand the test.

As I write, a mini Battle of Jutland is being fought right outside the Parliamentary library windows with a flotilla of Vote Out Scottish trawlers battling it out with Remain vessels using music, megaphones and hosepipes!

I have great sympathy with the fisherman who have made the journey although it is fair to say that a systematic policy of over-fishing in the North Sea long-predated our EU membership.

But what is harder to swallow is Nigel Farage’s late conversion to fisherman’s friend – while pocketing his MEP salary as a member of the European Parliament Fisheries Committee he only bothered to attend one of 43 meetings.

Just as in the First World War, I do worry that many wonderful lions are being led by donkeys.