Brexit seeps its poison into every family, age group, class and region. Parliament is a mirror image of national disunity. None of us can escape the transcending issue of our time.
On Thursday I have a vote. I am not a natural abstainer. I did, however, do just that in the last mayoral elections. I simply could not vote for a Conservative candidate campaigning to undermine London's position as Europe's premier financial centre.
Many months ago I warned that a lot of Conservatives would never vote for a Brexit party. In the inevitable outcry I was accused of every sort of treachery. My opinion stands but now the evidence is incontrovertible. I have already made it clear that I will not vote Conservative but this time neither will I abstain.
In four days' time, when I place my cross on the ballot paper for the European parliamentary elections, I will vote for a party other than the Conservatives.
Bill Newton Dunn
Before our party was infected by the virus of extremism, he was a Conservative MEP in the best traditions of Winston Churchill, Harold Macmillan and, yes, Margaret Thatcher, whose Bruges speech in 1988 made it clear that "our destiny is in Europe".
And, unlike Bill, I have no intention of being forced out - or resigning from - a party that has been such an important part of my life. I will remain a member of my local association and, unless told otherwise, will continue to take the Conservative whip in the Lords.
The reason for my experiment with the Lib Dems is, of course, the government's position on Brexit. I cannot, with a clear conscience, vote for my party when it is myopically focused on forcing through the biggest act of economic self-harm ever undertaken by a democratic government.
This would not, of course, resolve the deadlock in parliament. A new Conservative prime minister would doubtless feel mandated by the party to renegotiate the withdrawal agreement and remove the backstop. Nobody believes this is possible but it would help entrench the narrative that the European Union, not us, is responsible for this dreadful predicament.
The government could choose one of two options. It could seek to run the clock down to a no-deal "crash-out" from the EU. Or it could seek a mandate in an election where our party might be forced into some sort of alliance with Farage. None of us can rule out the prospect of that resulting in Jeremy Corbyn becoming prime minister.
Such a choice - a no-deal Brexit or a Marxist government - is not one I wish to contemplate. Nor can we entirely exclude the possibility of ending up with both, given the stated preference of some of Corbyn's coterie for the kind of "socialism in one country" that should have disappeared with the Berlin Wall.
The Conservatives, who were once known as the sensible party of the national interest, can yet respond to these elections in a way that is neither complacent nor panicked. As many have concluded, the solution to this crisis is to put any final deal back to the people.
There are good reasons why Conservatives have been reluctant to support another referendum until now. But, with the prospect of a descent deeper into this darkness for our party, it is the only way to solve the riddle, to secure a stable majority in parliament and a lasting settlement for the country.
It is a pragmatic and necessary solution that cannot be put off much longer. It is a democratic answer to a crisis in our democracy that will otherwise see our economy brought to ruin, businesses bankrupted and our precious Union broken apart.
Even though I cannot vote Conservative at these elections, I want to appeal to mainstream MPs in my party not to turn their back on the 5m Tory supporters who voted "remain" in 2016 and to resist the siren calls of populism.
I know something of the loneliness that surrounds defiance of a three-line whip. In the end MPs must decide who they are, what they believe in, where their loyalty lies. British influence in the world, our nation's prosperity and the inheritance we pass to a younger generation - all will call upon them to stand by their convictions that Britain's best interests depend on our ability to influence the destiny of Europe.
The issue could not be more urgent. Time is short. The stakes are huge.
Michael Heseltine was deputy prime minister, 1995-97