BORIS JOHNSON emerges from hiding to announce the free movement of people will continue, that the UK will remain in the single market and that Britain will re-intensify its co-operation with Europe.

In case you have forgotten, this is the same man who campaigned against the free movement of people and against paying a fee to the EU, a fee which he said should be spent on the NHS.

If you are one of those who backed him because of immigration and because of his NHS pledge, you may be wondering what the referendum was all about.

His U-turn means continuing to pay into the budget and accept the free movement of people, with no say on how the EU is run and no power of veto on new members.

Remember the Leave campaign hysteria over the prospect of Turkey joining?

For those who supported Remain, the picture Mr Johnson paints provides the softest of landings for the UK economy, basically the Norway option.

If you are thinking that nothing has changed, think again.

The pound is in free fall, the UK credit worthiness has been downgraded, the Government is in a state of paralysis, there is no effective Opposition, £120bn has been wiped off the stock exchange, racism is rife on the streets of England, Scotland is planning to exit the UK, the Northern Ireland peace process is threatened, the growth forecast for 2017 has been slashed from positive to negative threatening jobs, business investment has frozen, Government borrowing is set to rise which means taxes will go up and public spending will go down, and the UK still faces months if not years of uncertainty.

One other thing has changed too: the Prime Minister has resigned and Boris Johnson is the favourite to succeed him. Is everything beginning to come into focus now?

Martin Crowson, Leyburn