I WELL remember Boris Johnson’s predecessor as Foreign Secretary, George Brown, who arguably was instrumental in getting us into the Common Market in the first place.

George Brown, who served under Harold Wilson, was notorious for getting “tired and emotional” and the object of many stories, most probably apocryphal.

The best anecdote refers to an incident during a South American tour when, at an embassy reception, he approached a statuesque figure in dazzling red for a dance, to be rebuffed for three reasons:

1 You are drunk

2 The band is not playing a waltz, but the Peruvian national anthem

3 I am the Cardinal Archbishop of Lima

A V Martin, Westfield Close, Wigginton, York