An admiral about to conduct a battle was asked by an aide what to tell the newspapers. “Tell them nothing,” he replied. Then he added: “When it’s all over, tell them we won.” That sums up Theresa May’s attitude to the forthcoming negotiations regarding Britain’s exit from the European Union. She told the Conservative Party conference: “We will not be able to give a running commentary or a blow-by-blow account of the negotiations … Every stray word and every hyped-up media report is going to make it harder for us to get the right deal for Britain.”

In effect she wants a news blackout, before announcing, a fait accompli, a “victory”. But one person’s hyped-up media report is another person’s freedom of speech. She may not like it, but accountability and transparency are inescapable if a modicum of trust in the conduct of public affairs is to survive. In any event the other parties to the negotiation will be reporting back to the governments of 27 different member countries.