Boris slipped to third place in the ConHome Tory leader stakes earlier this week, so he has to do something to stop the rot:

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“If you don’t [succeed in renegotiation], you should always be prepared to walk away. To answer your question, would London flourish outside [of the EU]? Yes of course, of course it would. You can argue the toss about the ways which we might be disadvantaged and there are obviously some anxieties. But yes, it would certainly flourish and I recall the prophets of doom who said that the City would collapse if we didn’t join the euro, remember that – they said Throgmorton street would dissolve under a giant plague of rats  … Absolute rubbish. London’s more powerful and successful still than any other financial centre in the world, even than New York. It didn’t happen. There is every reason to think, if we got the right free trade deal, that we would flourish. There are downsides to leaving but there are also upsides.”

One way to win back his wavering grassroot support…