The Horizon triumph shows Rishi Sunak is owed more credit than he has been granted

Editorial: For all his apparent lack of charisma, endless Tory infighting and crumbling concrete, the Horizon deal is a reminder that the PM is capable of quietly getting on with the job to benefit Britain – by negotiating a deal with the EU that is a major shot in the arm for scientific research

Rather quietly, and in his technocratic way, Sunak has shown himself to be a highly effective negotiator (PA)

Sometimes, if he has a moment for reflection on his political predicament, Rishi Sunak might be reminded of the famous scene in the Monty Python film Life of Brian where the oppressed citizens of the imperator Julius Caesar ask: “What have the Romans ever done for us?” There then follows a long list of achievements, delivered to fine satirical effect.

With the prime minister’s popularity almost as low as Caesar’s might have been had YouGov been around in the ancient world, the prime minister can be forgiven a little for feeling that today’s voters are an ungrateful lot (though not maybe to the hubristic extent that the education secretary Gillian Keegan seems to feel is appropriate).

The announcement that the UK is rejoining the EU’s Horizon science programme – and is set to rejoin its Copernicus space programme – is the latest evidence of this slight lack of appreciation in the public mind. Mr Sunak has worked hard to clear up yet another mess of the Brexit legacy left by his two predecessors, and he deserves great credit for it, overshadowed though it is by the school buildings scandal.