At last! A PM who has come around to my way of thinking

Where The Telegraph sketch leads, Downing Street follows. Six months ago, in this very column, I proposed a radical but eminently reasonable solution to the problem of Brexit. It was this: Germany, France and the 25 other nations should quit the EU, and become part of the UK instead.

At last, a plan to satisfy everyone. It would suit Leavers, because all laws would be made in Westminster and immigration figures would be slashed (as all Poles, Bulgarians, and anyone else entering Britain from the Continent, would now be British, and therefore not immigrants). It would suit Remainers too, because they would get to live in a vast centralised superstate (the newly expanded UK) boasting its own Army (the British one) and a single currency (the pound).

Trade could continue as at present, and there’d be no hard border with Ireland. Foolproof.

With characteristic stubbornness, Theresa May ignored me. I was pleasantly surprised, therefore, to read in The Sun that the new occupants of No10 are keen to try my proposal.

“The Sun,” I read, “has learnt that Boris Johnson is ready to propose a new bilateral deal between London and Dublin … Under the new idea, Ireland would win a special dispensation from Brussels to diverge from EU rules temporarily so it can stay aligned with the UK.” In effect: leave the EU, and join the UK.

My only fear is that The Sun may have got its wires crossed. Yesterday, Mr Johnson gave a press conference with Angela Merkel. And strangely, he didn’t mention the plan once.

Mrs Merkel informed Mr Johnson he had “30 days” to solve the Irish border problem.

Mr Johnson didn’t look at all fazed. He beamed away breezily, as if he hadn’t a care in the world, and even made a joke at the expense of his host. “We in the UK want a deal, and I believe we can get one,” he blared.

“Wir schaffen das, as I believe the phrase is!”

Wir schaffen das (“We can do it”) was what Mrs Merkel said in 2015 after inviting one million refugees to live in Germany. Critics have mocked her with the phrase ever since.

At the end, Mr Johnson insisted he had “abundant” solutions for the Irish border. After mumbling something about “trusted trader schemes or electronic pre-clearing”, he promised there was “more besides”, but tantalisingly did not elaborate. Perhaps he was saving the other ideas up for his private meeting with Mrs Merkel. I do hope he suggested mine.