Has Boris just set an impossible bar for Cameron’s EU renegotiation?

Boris Johnson’s speech today was the best that I have ever heard him give. It was a potent cocktail of political vision, humour and optimism. But the most significant line it was about Europe. He declared that:

‘It should be up to this parliament and this country – not to Jean-Claude Juncker – to decide if too many people are coming here’

It is impossible to read this as anything other than a demand that freedom of movement rules are fundamentally altered as part of the UK’s renegotiation with the EU.

Now, Number 10 are clear that they aren’t seeking to challenge the principle of freedom of movement, they know that Angela Merkel would not accept this, and are instead concentrating on deal with its application; the ‘pull factors’ of EU migrants’ immediate access to in work benefits and the like.

But Boris is saying that he wants changes that are far more fundamental than this.