Boris Johnson is an ambitious man, and it is reasonable that his lengthy intervention into Brexit negotiations this past weekend should have been regarded as a challenge to the prime minister’s authority. Yet the Conservative Party’s internal soap opera, however diverting, is of less importance than Britain’s future. Mr Johnson is the holder of one of the great offices of state. Unlike the government of which he is a part, the foreign secretary has now expressed a clear vision not just of how Brexit negotiations should progress, but also of the future of Britain thereafter. Being not overburdened with such things at present, the British public would be wise to consider it in detail.

Mr Johnson’s intention is not to heal a divided nation. On