Those who called for a clean Brexit from the outset were right. The Franco-German axis is determined to make a soft arrangement impossible. Any further talking at this point wastes time and tightens the noose around our own necks.

If Britain is to leave the EU – as it must, after a clear popular vote, endorsed by Parliament, and written into the Tory and Labour manifestos – the only way to do so with economic and political coherence is to reassert full sovereign self-government.

Sadly, I have concluded that we are left with no choice other than to invoke our rights as members of the World Trade Organisation and accept tariffs (mostly very low, but still unwelcome) until free trade deals can be agreed one by one with the US, China, Japan, India, and other countries. The wheels should be set in motion immediately. It will be impossible in another six months.

Berlin, Paris, and Brussels have stated with crystal clarity that no deal on services is available. The only free trade pact they are willing to offer is on goods.

This is prohibitively asymmetric: it locks in their huge surplus (mostly German) in manufacturing, while locking out Britain’s surplus in services, which partly compensates. Those who talk loudest about cherry picking pick the biggest the cherries.