I WAS mightily relieved to hear from the Prime Minister’s own mouth that he has no plans to give US companies free access to the NHS if he achieves Brexit on his terms. I can now happily ignore all those senior Tories or Brexit Party leaders who have spoken or written in favour of NHS privatisation or those, like Boris Johnson himself, who have hosted meetings of pro privatisation pressure groups.

After all, our Prime Minister wouldn’t lie to us would he?

Heartened by this news I can happily stop worrying about the health problems that my advancing years can bring and I can fritter away the money I had saved up to pay for the hospitalisation that those problems will lead to. Maybe I can run to a Caribbean cruise.

There is one nagging problem though. The Prime Minister promises a swift exit from the EU followed seamlessly by a rapidly negotiated trade deal with the US.

As anyone who has ever conducted complex negotiations with a stubborn other party (and President Trump is nothing if not stubborn) knows only too well, there is only one way to conclude them quickly and that’s to give the other side everything they ask for.

Perhaps I’ll not take that cruise after all.

John Gruffydd by email