The prime minister’s father is to become a French citizen to maintain his family’s close ties with Europe after his son led the UK out of the EU. Stanley Johnson, 79, can apply because his mother, Irene, was born in France.

His citizenship application is revealed in his daughter Rachel’s new book, published last week. In Rake’s Progress: My Political Midlife Crisis, she writes that Stanley is “en route to becoming a French citizen, as his mother had been born in Versailles and his grandmother had been in Paris”. She added: “This is good news — I might be able to become French too.”

A source close to the family believes Stanley has applied so that his grandchildren can live and work in the