This is a market on our doorstep, ready for further exploitation by British firms: the membership fee seems rather small for all that access." - Meaning and context.">
From a draft of a pro-EU newspaper column for The Daily Telegraph (written 19 February 2016), later reproduced in All Out War by Tim Shipman. Draft article published as "Cripes! I jolly nearly backed Dave on Europe" The Sunday Times (16 October 2016). Johnson submitted an anti-EU column for publication.

And then there is the whole geostrategic anxiety. Britain is a great nation, a global force for good. It is surely a boon for the world and for Europe that she should be intimately engaged in the EU. This is a market on our doorstep, ready for further exploitation by British firms: the membership fee seems rather small for all that access.

— Boris Johnson

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "And then there is the whole geostrategic anxiety. Britain is a great nation, a global force for good. It is surely a boon for the world and for Europe that she should be intimately engaged in the EU. This is a market on our doorstep, ready for further exploitation by British firms: the membership fee seems rather small for all that access." in the context of "From a draft of a pro-EU newspaper column for The Daily Telegraph (written 19 February 2016), later reproduced in All Out War by Tim Shipman. Draft article published as "Cripes! I jolly nearly backed Dave on Europe" The Sunday Times (16 October 2016). Johnson submitted an anti-EU column for publication." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Boris Johnson" (Quotes, 2010s, 2016) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Boris Johnson

About Boris Johnson

Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, journalist, and popular historian. He was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from July 2019 until September 2022.