His point – and one that will now become clearer – is that Britain was taking back control of migration policy to better manage globalisation, rather than torpedo it. Take the immigration overhaul, for example. A few years ago, an American flautist faced deportation under Theresa May’s rules because she didn’t earn enough. It was an obvious example of a deranged system, and one that Brexit can remedy: in the EU the only way of controlling immigration is to be absurdly tough on non-Europeans.

Some had urged No10 to raise the salary threshold even higher after Brexit. Mr Johnson disagrees, and says that if a young computer programmer from Nairobi wants to help a British company grow, the post-Brexit immigration system should make it easier for him. But not for everyone. The new points-based system will probably make it harder to import builders or care home workers. But if so, then that’s likely to push up the salaries of both in Britain.

Construction bosses have been moaning about Brexit making it harder to hire, but the salaries they’ve been paying on site have been rising at a healthy clip. Once, the Tories (and the Davos set) would have sympathised with the building industry. Now, not so much. If care homes complain about losing an endless supply of cheap workers from abroad, why should the Tories worry? The bigger problem, surely, is that far too many people looking after the elderly are being paid too little. It’s a skilled job and should be paid as such.

Left-wing parties once made this (fairly basic) argument. In Britain at least, the Right now has this area to itself. Is this globalist, or nationalist? Left, or Right? The Prime Minister is creating a new path across this terrain – using the very conservative principle that you should do what works, and leave others to worry about the ideology. On climate change, too, he’s offering an alternative to the Greta vs Trump pantomime shown at Davos. Britain has one of the most ambitious decarbonisation targets in the world but plans to hit it using technology rather than green taxes.

Perhaps Johnson’s greatest achievement – and one which amazes other conservatives – is his demolition of Labour’s ‘red wall’ and his winning places that had voted Left for decades. Most Tories didn’t really think this was possible until a few weeks ago and it was by no means all their doing.Labour has been steadily moving away from working class communities for years, pursuing well-heeled graduates more interested in culture wars than anything else. The Tories offered practical help to these voters – and promised to defend the nation state.