The Brexiteers need to realise that the Commonwealth is not coming to save them

The Commonwealth does about a sixth of the trade with the UK that the EU does – and has neither the capacity nor the desire to be turned into a significant trading bloc. “We understand the UK wants to come to us (as the Commonwealth), in the fullness of time, to present some post-Brexit bigger, deeper agreement that they would want to negotiate with us,” he says. “We would meet them after three years or something, assess the situation and take stock.” Being put on the backburner like this doesn’t sound like the Global Britain promised by the Breexiteers, where the UK rids itself of the shackles of Europe and spreads its wings to seek global markets across the oceans.