Domestically, the opposition wants to change the constitution, and return the country to being a parliamentary republic. Above all, it promises a return to normalcy.
He will have believed he had no need to define himself more clearly when his poll ratings were high. So now other people are doing it for him.
I predicted that he would struggle. Now calls for a Sixth Republic may become louder – and the next President may be a Marxist or Le Pen.
Putin’s Russia is closer to home – remember the Salisbury attack – and Islamist extremism is already here.
There may be greater willingness by Brussels to negotiate following populist successes in the European elections.
In his new book, Jeremy Black traces the history of Britain’s relations with the Continent, and how it bears on the Brexit debate.
That’s to say, those of 1950, 1961, 1967 and 1971. Sovereignty was always the key concern, despite arguments over its meaning.
The latter has never had the clout nor the resources required for it to do its ever-expanding task. It has had to play catch-up.
We need to rekindle l’esprit communautaire, on both sides of the channel. In Walpole’s famous phrase, “this dance can no longer go”.
But could Germany, in the wake of its election result, now become the prime bulwark against Macron’s and Juncker’s ambitions?
In her belief in “the good that government can do”, she is quite unique in terms of UK political post-war history.
The agreement that Johnson has obtained rights the wrongs inflicted by Major and a succession of Europhile Prime Ministers.