Political deals are different to business deals in so many ways.

I’m reminded of Patten’s dealings with the Chinese over Hong Kong. Those of us who had any real experience of working and living in the Far East perceived his efforts as almost entirely self-serving - his chief concern being about his next job, rather than the one he was there to do.

Naturally the handover was trumpeted as a huge success for democracy etc. But the Chinese are so much smarter than that………

As to Singapore, well, yes. A complete failure to really understand the enemy, compounded by an unrealistic belief in the relative strength of the British position. Mind you, the Japs weren’t playing by our rules, were they, so we won the ‘moral’ victory didn’t we?

Look at the phenominal rise of economic power in various countries other than Britain. There’s no guarantee that our economic enemies will play by our rules this time, either.

It’s a major mistake to believe that the Chinese will honour any part of a so-called ‘agreement’ except in so far as it suits their interests. And those interests will change as China develops.

Equally it’s a major mistake to believe that multi-national companies will stick to political rules. Read J K Galbraith (New Industrial State, amongst others).

The EU simply does not have enough clout to impress the Chinese. They know that they can out-manufacture and out-price anything that the EU can do. And very soon they’ll out-educate the West.

Could it be that the Chinese know more about human nature than the British electorate, do y’ think?!?

The EU and UK did make a transitional plan - they implemented it - everyone was happy - then out of the blue they revoked the freedom of trade because certain people who influence those in power got upset that China was making money out of producing quality products.

The government really needs to get its head together on this one - we have been encouraging the export of manufacturing jobs for decades - we are now actively exporting service sector jobs.

The complete lack of accountability in government is leading us to a very uncertain future where we shall live with the consequences of decisions made by politicians who have feathered their nests and moved to a tax haven.

The hilarious part of Tony’s trip will be that, even if he has been briefed, he won’t have sufficient understanding of the Chinese culture to realise that they see him as "EU president" and if you are top dog then either you are powerful and can make binding decisions or you are an empty shell that represents the nothingness of Western democracy.

He will be treated with the utmost of outward respect and dignity - which he will confuse with reality. Whilst inwardly and in reality they will consider him to be an empty worthless fool.