Brexit is moving on. Exciting, isn’t it? Last week’s transition agreement finally lets us negotiate, sign and ratify trade deals, which suddenly makes Liam Fox one of the most powerful men in Britain.

Why? Because the deals he’ll be chasing will decide what kind of country we want to be outside the EU. The dominant philosophy among modern Tories is free trade, which they assume is not only logical but in tune with Britain’s identity as a seafaring nation.

They call this Global Britain. And yet conservatism, and the country, cannot be spoken for in a single slogan. A word of warning: Britain has valuable things to protect.

Last week we had a spat about where our passports should be made, and although the debate was a bit shallow, it showed how trade is the great sleeper issue of Western politics.

We don’t discuss it much because (like Brexit once was) the pundits think the issue is settled. The case for the free movement of goods is, after all, practical and well-meaning.