As MPs have sought to find a way of extracting the UK from the European integrationist project, they have lost sight of the changes that have taken place since the British people voted to leave the EU in June 2016. In those two years, the world has become more volatile, more contested and less liberal. And in the coming years, it is only likely to get worse.

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, European elites have been mesmerised by “Golaithism”. Goliathism is premised on the assumption that large continental powers – such as the so-called BRICS – have (or will gain) natural advantages over their smaller, more compact European competitors. As Federica Mogherini, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, recently told the European Parliament: “I think we all agree that no single European country can respond effectively to any of the challenges of our times.”

The EU is the solution for the Goliathists – a warrior not unlike the one the Philistines saw in the Valley of Elah. They see in the integrationist project the means for their protection, particularly when confronted by other large predatory warriors. As Heiko Maas, the German Foreign Minister, said last June: “It is only by surrendering sovereignty to the EU that we can win back the political influence we have long since lost as a nation.”