George Soros is too late. Just as the Hungarian-American financier launches his multi-million pound campaign for a second EU vote, Brussels has moved on.

Eurocrats no longer talk, even in private, about reversing Brexit. It’s not that they have suddenly started to respect the will of the people. Rather, it’s that they have found what they see as an even better option. What could be better than a humiliated Britain begging to reverse its decision? Why, a humiliated Britain that remains in the EU without votes or a veto.

The United Kingdom is inching toward an open-ended transition period that will leave almost everything as it is. Brussels will continue to run our agriculture, our fisheries, our overseas trade, our employment laws. We shall continue to pump our squillions across the Channel. Our laws will remain subject to Euro-judges. Only one significant thing will change: we shall lose our representation in the EU institutions and, with it, our ability to block harmful new laws.