Watch: Boris Johnson makes the Germans laugh

Boris Johnson’s critics predicted that he would be something of a disaster on the world stage, but his debut as Prime Minister in Berlin has got off to a good start.

Firstly, he avoided the fate of Theresa May, who managed to get locked into her car when she arrived to meet Angela Merkel.

And Boris has also cracked the famously difficult German sense of humour. During a press conference with the German chancellor, Boris turned to Brexit and said that he was optimistic that a Brexit deal could be done. He then borrowed Merkel’s own phrase, ‘Wir schaffen das’ – or we can do this – which she famously used at the height of the 2015 migrant crisis. His comment went down well with the audience in Berlin. But Mr S wonders whether Merkel also saw the funny side…