Conservatives ought to know without being told that one cannot just take a glance round the world, see which culture one likes the look of, and graft it onto one’s own.
The desire to protect your home is as universal as the desire to love, to work and to raise a family. Why should protecting your country be any different?
We need a new strategic partnership with Ireland. At the moment, that end seems endlessly remote.
Its freedom to prosper, to make and judge its own laws, for its people ‘to take back control’ over how or by whom they are governed – all these will be lost for ever.
When I tried to focus these concerns by calling for a vote to see if this deal did indeed have the agreement of Cabinet, opposition crumbled – and my colleagues fell silent.
Our plan is supported by remainers like me, by leavers such as David Davis and Dominic Raab and, crucially, by the DUP.
There is concern in some capitals that the UK can use it to secure privileged access to the Single Market in goods with, over time, a competitive advantage.
Instead of leaving the Customs Union but retaining chunks of the Single Market – we shall end up staying in the Customs Union but leaving most of the Single Market.
Giving Northern Ireland a say over the introduction of new EU laws would at least introduce a measure of democracy into the system.
The key question arising from the diplomatic back-and-forth is whether Spain would be prepared to veto a future trade deal.
A staple of stagecraft magic is misdirection. While his audience is gawping at one thing, the magician is swiftly doing another. So it may be now.
Rather than going over the heads of the Unionist parties, the Government needs to find a way to address their concerns.
It can’t have been Parliament’s intention to allow Northern Ireland to form part of a separate customs territory to Great Britain for any purpose.
It’s time for the Government to dust down Plan A Plus and A Better Deal – rather than its own scheme, which is going nowhere.