There was no class of people who felt a colder sense of dread in their stomachs than journalists when the Brexit result put the fate of the UK in the hands of two of their former number, Boris Johnson and Michael Gove.

Most journalists are decent, upright seekers after truth, particularly those who write for the Financial Times. But they know, deep down, that many in the trade get by on the strength of making things up as they go along.

The first 72 hours of life out of the EU straitjacket were entirely predictable. Having won the referendum on a series of wildly contradictory and nonsensical promises, Mr Johnson initially went to ground and then announced his plan for the future by means of his regular column in the Daily Telegraph. The piece that emerged was meandering, repetitive and hugely at odds with reality. Any journalist would recognise it as something written on deadline by someone way off his beat and out of his depth.