But in other respects the FCO is blatantly dishonest, as when it claims, without any authority, that “the British people would expect” Article 50 to be invoked straight after the referendum. In practical terms, this would be out of the question, since both sides would need up to a year to prepare before full negotiations could begin.

Even more telling, however, is how wilfully the FCO misrepresents what it dismisses as “the Norway option” (clearly the one that most worries it), allowing Britain to remain part of the Single Market as a member of the European Economic Area (EEA).

When, for instance, it makes the familiar Europhile claim that Norway has no say in passing Single Market laws, this deliberately obscures the fact that, as a member of the European Free Trade Area (EFTA) and the Nordic Council, Norway has more say in the preliminary drafting of those rules than Britain.