Increasingly, it looks like David Cameron is going to ask the EU for very little in his negotiation. Setting the bar so low will enable him to claim he’s won all his “red lines” and the country should therefore vote to stay in the EU.

The pity is that Mr Cameron is in a much stronger position than he seems to think. He could demand so much more. The EU is terrified of the consequences of losing a minow like Greece. Think of the turmoil if the second biggest economy and second biggest net contributor walked away. It is unthinkable the EU would permit it. We can pretty much write the terms of the deal we want, so strong is the bargaining position. We have an historic opportunity to re-work the EU and re-focus it – moving it away from what it has always done first and foremost – protect French peasant farmers. That is a policy that belongs to the 1950s when it was conceived, not to the next 100 years. We need to compete with Asia, China, India etc in the next century. Mr Cameron knows it and if he grasp the nettle, he can set the EU on course to do it.