Just as its energy dependence on Russia cannot be reversed overnight, decades of drift into quasi-pacifism reflect a deeply embedded outlook.
Ministers must grasp that this new one will be even more disposed to conduct its foreign policy through the EU.
It is worth noting the lack of a German, and therefore European, consensus on the foreign policy challenges facing the West, particularly on Russia and China.
Britain can convene a coalition of countries, including Poland, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands and the Baltic states, possibly with Ukraine in association.
And if Germany’s Greens are in government after the federal election, they will be inclined to help him.
A traffic light coalition? A Jamaica coalition? Who knows? What’s certain is that the CDU/CSU is struggling amidst a fragmenting landscape.
I’m delighted to have been asked to help set up the new Taskforce for Innovation and Growth through Regulatory Reform.
If both of the main parties remain locked together in an unpopular pact, it creates more space in which new challengers can grow.
Plus: Osborne’s regrets, vintage Heseltine – and, after Germany, to Brighton, for what is claimed to be the biggest conference Labour has ever held.
By uniting behind Johnson’s plan, and replicating the approach of these two mayors, the the environment can become a winning issue for the party.