Sterling effort

In his first week as Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has shocked those who had assumed that he is a joker incapable of making any more progress than his predecessor. During his leadership campaign, he said that he would not settle for a modified version of the Brexit deal that Theresa May agreed and Parliament rejected three times. In office, he has been as good as his word and is refusing to start negotiations until the EU says it is willing to compromise. If it doesn’t, then we leave without a deal on 31 October.

If many politicians are still in denial about this, the currency markets are not. A no-deal Brexit would put the UK economy in transition from being part of a European bloc into one governed by yet-to-be-signed free trade agreements, under World Trade Organisation rules. Brexiteers and Remainers agree that the inevitable uncertainty would push the pound down by about 10 per cent.