As he took one of his last opportunities to perform as Britain’s prime minister yesterday, Boris Johnson presented himself as the victim of powerful forces who were already trying to undo his political legacy:

Some people will say as I leave office that this is the end of Brexit, oh yes, and the leader of the opposition and the deep state will prevail in its plot to haul us back into alignment with the EU as a prelude to our eventual return . . . we on this side of the House will prove them wrong, won’t we?

The immediate reaction of British reporters was to accuse Johnson of borrowing “a term often used by conspiracy theorists to describe shadowy government officials who carry out secret acts unbeknown to the wider public.” From this perspective, any talk of a deep state operating in British politics is paranoid, irresponsible, and “Trumpian.”