The trouble with threats is they have a habit of shooting you in the foot

Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt agree on at least one thing: that the way to get a better Brexit deal is to threaten to leave with no deal. Mr Johnson, for example, has said he wants EU leaders to “look deep into our eyes and think, ‘My God, these

Brits actually are going to leave. And they’re going to leave on those terms’.” Such will be the EU leaders’ alarm that they’ll ditch the backstop on the spot.

At least, that’s the theory. But what if they aren’t alarmed?

That’s the one possible flaw in this plan: that EU leaders decide a no-deal Brexit would be a lot more damaging to Britain than it would be to them.

Because, if that is what they think, they might not find the threat quite so compelling. The British Government might as well be saying: “If I shoot myself in the foot with this machine gun, it’s going to make a terrible mess of your carpet. Imagine the stain. Could take you a whole hour to get it out. All that scrubbing. Be a real nuisance for you. Plus, you’d have to put up with the horrible sound of my screaming. Wouldn’t be much fun for you, would it? Could ruin your evening. Do you really want that? Are you sure?”

Still, Mr Johnson and Mr Hunt seem convinced it’s a goer, and last night, they reaffirmed their commitment at a leadership debate in London, organised by The Sun.

Mr Hunt declared that it would be “dangerous and destructive” to remove no deal as a threat.

Mr Johnson, meanwhile, said it would “send out the signal” that Britain would accept more delay. He pledged to “prepare robustly” for a no-deal Brexit. “It’s simple business sense…”

The political editor of The Sun, moderating the debate, tried to squeeze out some detail. It wasn’t easy. Mr Johnson, he said, had claimed a week earlier that the costs of a no-deal Brexit would be “vanishingly inexpensive”. Really?

“If we prepare properly,” replied Mr Johnson. And how much would it cost to “prepare properly”?

“Oh,” replied Mr Johnson airily, “depends how well we prepare…”

October 31 is three and a half months away.

Aside from Brexit, both men were asked whether they would condemn Donald Trump’s tweets telling nonwhite Democrat politicians to “go back” to the countries “from which they came” – even though they were actually born in the US. Mr Johnson and Mr Hunt conceded that it was “totally unacceptable”. But when asked whether they would call it racist, both shuffled and stumbled.

“Er… you know…” mumbled Mr Johnson. “You can take from what I’ve said what I think.”

“This is the president of our closest ally,” said Mr Hunt, pleadingly. “I hope I’ve made clear how offensive it is to me that people are still saying that kind of thing…”

If that’s the unblinking, lion-hearted fearlessness they can expect from our next PM, the EU probably aren’t panicking just yet.