JUST when you thought the EU referendum debacle could not get any more odiously bizarre and distorted, it has taken a series of turns so surreal that Gerard de Nerval would have tripped over his lobster in surprise.

Everywhere you look figures from the murky past are emerging blinking into the light of day like lying latter-day Lazaruses (Lazari?).

Where to begin? Well we’ve had John Major and Tony Blair teaming up to spread the remain message; a senior Tory MP defecting from the Leave campaign at the 11th hour and John Redwood, a man who has spent the last decade or so failing to convince the populous that he was human, accusing George Osborne of deceit.

Of course Osborne is being deceitful, it’s his default setting. To expect anything else would be like hoping a Dalek would opt for reconciliation over extermination.

But this is John Redwood we are talking about, a creature that makes the average Vulcan look like a compassionate humanitarian.

I for one thought he’d been summoned back to his home planet.

But apparently they don’t want him back either.

But Redwood is a bit player at best and pales into even greater significance when compared with some of the other weirdos and has-beens squabbling for the limelight.

Major and Blair shared a platform yesterday, warning that a vote to leave the European Union could damage Northern Ireland and potentially lead to the break-up of the union.

Major’s active campaigning is understandable, he is seeking revenge for Maastricht.

Blair just can’t help himself and is hoping it will distract attention from Chilcot.

Not exactly a dream team … More like Statler and Waldorf, if one of them was a war criminal.

Meanwhile, in a sensationally hypocritical move Tory MP and Commons health select committee chairwoman Sarah Wollaston switched horses mid-stream.

Wollaston, a GP, said she changed sides because: “The claims about health from the Leave campaign have been shameful. They have knowingly placed a financial lie at the heart of their campaign, even emblazoning it on their battle bus alongside the NHS branding to imply a financial bonanza. It’s an empty promise and one which would soon backfire.”

Funny, that sounds exactly like what the Tories are currently doing to the health service with the whole-hearted support of, er, one Dr Sarah Wollaston …

You couldn’t make it up.