Among the problems confronting Theresa May, as she proselytises what she calls her “good deal” for Britain’s future relationship with (and outside) the EU, is that it doesn’t exist. It is a 26-page document — called a “political declaration” — that relies at every turn on the ominous word “consider”. You could sell it to anyone, but they would be none the wiser.

This underlines the telling criticism by Sam Gyimah, who resigned as universities minister last weekend: as he pointed out, we would be negotiating our future trade deal with the EU having irrevocably agreed to hand over a £39bn exit payment — the largest non-returnable deposit in history. Our single greatest point of leverage would have been voluntarily abandoned. This, of course, is