diff --git a/modules/ve/ui/ve.ui.Context.js b/modules/ve/ui/ve.ui.Context.js
index 8230c6c7b4..573f702de9 100644
--- a/modules/ve/ui/ve.ui.Context.js
+++ b/modules/ve/ui/ve.ui.Context.js
@@ -54,7 +54,8 @@ ve.ui.Context = function VeUiContext( surface, config ) {
 		'selectionStart': 'onSelectionStart',
 		'selectionEnd': 'onSelectionEnd',
 		'relocationStart': 'onRelocationStart',
-		'relocationEnd': 'onRelocationEnd'
+		'relocationEnd': 'onRelocationEnd',
+		'focus': 'onSurfaceFocus'
 	} );
 	this.inspectors.connect( this, {
 		'opening': 'onInspectorOpening',
@@ -119,6 +120,27 @@ ve.ui.Context.prototype.afterModelSelect = function () {
 	this.update();
 };
 
+/**
+ * Respond to focus events on the surfaceView by hiding the context.
+ *
+ * If there's an inspector open and the user manages to drop the cursor in the surface such that
+ * the selection doesn't change (i.e. the resulting model selection is equal to the previous model
+ * selection), then #onModelSelect won't cause the inspector to be closed, so we do that here.
+ *
+ * Hiding the context immediately on focus also avoids flickering phenomena where the inspector
+ * remains open or the context remains visible in the wrong place while the selection is visually
+ * already moving somewhere else. We deliberately don't call #update to avoid drawing the context
+ * in a place that the selection is about to move away from.
+ *
+ * We don't have to defer the response to this event because there is no danger that inspectors'
+ * close handlers will end up invoking this handler again.
+ */
+ve.ui.Context.prototype.onSurfaceFocus = function () {
+	if ( this.popup.isVisible() ) {
+		this.hide();
+	}
+};
+
 /**
  * Handle selection start events on the view.
  *