IT HAS been a week and the world has not yet ended despite the prophets of doom. Yes, we are talking about Brexit.

The supermarket shelves are not empty and there are no queues from the M25 to Dover. Who would have thought it?

Four years on and everything appears to be OK. Our Prime Minister Boris Johnson made a typically rumbustious speech earlier this week outlining his plans for the future and, remarkably, the path ahead seems to be quite smooth.

Clearly there will be a few bumps in the road during the 11 months of “transition” but at the end of the day it will probably be all right. The Remainers have been remarkably quiet, seemingly having finally accepted the inevitable.

Back in 2016, then Prime Minister David Cameron, clearly riled by arch Brexiteer Nigel Farage, made the fatal error of calling a Referendum on our membership of the European Union, mistakenly believing that it was a foregone conclusion the electorate would vote to remain. How wrong can you possibly be?

Even arch Eurosceptic Farage, in the early hours after the vote, more or less conceded defeat.

But victory was snatched from the jaws of defeat. The Leavers had won. Cue nearly four years of bitter wrangling in Parliament which ultimately led to the downfall of Cameron’s successor Theresa May.

Johnson, a master of opportunism, had nailed his colours to the Leave mast, which eventually led to him being appointed as May’s successor. At least with Johnson what you see is what you get, it is either black or white with no grey areas whatsoever.

Johnson’s speech earlier this week was quite remarkable in a number of ways.

He certainly made it patently clear he is not putting up with any nonsense with the powers that be at the European Union.

Instead he extended the hand of friendship to the countries that will forge our future, namely the United States, Canada, Australia, Russia, Japan and, yes, even China.

You can understand his strategy. Britain has to move forward post-Brexit and the sooner the better for all of us.

Nobody can say that Johnson has not acted decisively and that is what this country needed after years of prevarication... strong leadership.

In essence the Prime Minister has a mandate to do whatever he wants within reason after winning a decisive victory in December’s General Election, a result which leaves the Labour Party in disarray following the resignation of party leader Jeremy Corbyn.

It remains to be seen who will replace him but one imagines it will take years, if not decades, for them to regain power.

And what about Farage? For him it is a case of job done and his lengthy tenure as a member of the European Union parliament have now been consigned to the history books.

One imagines at some point he will be elevated to the House of Lords or be awarded a Knighthood and why not? He has spent the best part of three decades dedicating himself to get the United Kingdom out of the European Union. Whether you agree with him or not, you cannot fault his effort.

Of course his man of the people shtick is a bit of a con. Farage is a millionaire former investment banker who moved into politics because it suited him. Many fell for the “beer and fags” image and voted accordingly, both for Ukip and the Brexit Party, but will he be able to cope in the political wilderness now it is a case of job done? One imagines not. He will return in one shape or another for the simple reason his ego is to big to just fade into the background.

I must confess at this juncture that I am no Tory. In fact I have never voted Conservative in my life and have no intention of doing so in the future either.

But what this country needs more than anything else is stability and it seems that, at last, we have a modicum of that.

Johnson thus far has proved a strong and effective leader, especially in the wake of the terrorist attack in Streatham.

The early release programme from prison for convicted terrorists is flawed and the Prime Minister is clearly determined to nip that in the bud.

If it makes our streets safer then he should be commended rather than vilified.

Extremism in whatever form, especially when it leads to severe injury or loss of life, cannot be tolerated.

When it comes to these type of offences, life in prison must mean life.