As Boris Johnson strode down Downing Street to take his place at the podium outside No 10, the heckles from protesters must have been ringing in his ears. Unperturbed, he set out his determination to prove the “doubters, the doomsters and gloomsters” wrong. Britain would leave the EU in 99 days by the already-delayed date of October 31 — no ifs or buts.

It was time to change the tone. He said: “After three years of unfounded self-doubt, it is time to change the record to recover our natural and historic role as an enterprising, outward-looking and truly global Britain — generous in temper and engaged with the world.”

Johnson quickly installed Sajid Javid in No 11, in preparation for what some economists expect to