Remainers lost the war – now they should give Boris Johnson a chance to make Brexit work

Inside Westminster: The prime minister mustn’t forget that the referendum result wasn’t 80-20, writes Andrew Grice

Anti-Brexit protesters demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament on Thursday (Reuters)

As Brexit Day approached, the air at Westminster was thick with what ifs, if onlys and chatter about what might yet be – that one day, the UK might rejoin the EU.

In private, some MPs dare to believe that re-entry is a possibility – that, for example, Labour might fight the general election after next on a rejoin platform. Yet they will undermine their own case if they go public too soon.

Boris Johnson has outmanoeuvred his opponents, delivered Brexit and united a party deeply split over Europe since I began covering EU summits during Margaret Thatcher’s reign.