True to his word, the PM got Brexit done

NOW the dust is settling, it seems increasingly clear Boris Johnson’s long-awaited Brexit trade deal is a historic triumph.

He has parcelled up an unprecedented package that – on the face of it – has lashings to celebrate. And, to boot, delivered it in record time.

So much for the high priests of Remain sneering it would be impossible!

Like a 19th-century imperialist power, the EU had treated the departing UK like a rebellious colony, demanding we came swiftly to heel. Instead, the Prime Minister nervelessly stuck to his guns.

Declaring Britain would sooner walk away from the negotiations than cross its red lines, he forced the bloc to climb down.

By this time next week we will, for the first time in nearly 50 years, be truly sovereign – a vaulting affirmation of our national courage, ambition and character.

If as sold, the deal fulfils the promises made in the referendum and two general elections. The country will – at long last! – take back control of its laws, money, borders and fishing waters.

Not only does the multi-billion-pound agreement avoid costly tariffs and quotas, it also covers areas such as services, aviation and law enforcement. Crucially, we escape Brussels’ regulatory orbit. Almost every vital box appears ticked.

It is, of course, still possible that there may be booby traps. Few have seen, let alone digested, the full document.

Some intolerable poison pill may have been buried in its commodious 500 pages.

And should we be alarmed about the fouryear break clause?

Surely only a masochist would want to reopen this divisive and grisly chapter. For now, most pro- Brexit MPs back the momentous deal.

Even Nigel Farage, who shook the political kaleidoscope, is instinctively putting pragmatism before purity.

Labour, meanwhile, has plunged into civil war, torn between wooing Leave voters in the Red Wall and its metropolitan Remain supporters.

And what of the dreary old notion, tossed out by rabid Europhiles, that a declining Britain cannot survive without kowtowing to the statist bloc?

A report by an influential think-tank consigns this comprehensibly to the dustbin. Throwing off the EU’s shackles, it says, sets up the prospect of the UK becoming an economic tiger, turbocharging job-creating growth and investment.

Indeed, not only will we remain Europe’s second largest economy, we’ll accelerate away from rheumatic, strike-torn France.

Mr Johnson swept to power promising to ‘Get Brexit Done’. To the relief of millions, he has achieved that goal.

After four nightmarish years, this country can, we trust, look forward to the future with unalloyed optimism.