Hanging by a thread
Prime Minister clashes with Merkel... who warns that any agreement is now looking ‘very unlikely’
‘Diplomatic code for a blazing row’
BREXIT talks were in a ‘critical condition’ last night after an angry bust- up between Boris Johnson and Angela Merkel.
With just days left to strike a Brexit deal, the German Chancellor told Mr Johnson that an agreement was ‘overwhelmingly unlikely’ unless he agreed to leave Northern Ireland in the customs union ‘for ever’.
A senior Government source told the Mail that Mrs Merkel’s extraordinary demand – in a tense 30minute phone call yesterday – was a ‘huge diplomatic blunder’ which revealed the EU was not interested in a serious compromise. The source said the Prime Minister now feared a deal was ‘essentially impossible’, barring a last-minute change of heart.
But that triggered a furious row, with EU president Donald Tusk accusing Downing Street of trying to play a ‘blame game’ and of acting in bad faith.
Meanwhile, EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker issued an extraordinary warning, claiming that a No Deal ‘would lead to a collapse of the UK and a clear weakening of the roots of growth on the continent’ and that the EU’s relations with the UK could be ‘less intimate than with Canada’.
Mr Juncker said it would be the UK’s fault if Brexit turned sour, adding: ‘If that’s the case the explanation is actually in the British camp because the original sin is on the islands and not on the continent.’
Downing Street last night insisted that hopes of a deal were still alive. Mr Johnson held a ‘constructive’ 40-minute conversation with Irish premier Leo Varadkar and will meet him for further discussions in the next 48 hours, in what appears to be the last chance for securing a deal. But ministers were gloomy, and the PM’s official spokesman said negotiations were at a ‘critical juncture’. Government sources said Mr Johnson could even boycott next week’s crunch EU summit rather than suffer a ritual humiliation of the kind dealt out to Theresa May.
The collapse of the talks would put Mr Johnson on a collision course over whether he can keep his ‘do or die’ pledge to leave the EU by the end of this month.
Tory sources said if Brexit was delayed again by Parliament and the courts, the party would have ‘no choice’ but to fight an election on a No Deal ticket to prevent votes haemorrhaging to Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party. It came as:
Ministers moved to a No Deal footing, with Michael Gove publishing a ‘preparedness’ dossier claiming the Government was ready to leave on October 31 with or without a deal;
Mr Johnson faced a Cabinet backlash after his controversial aide Dominic Cummings was named as the source of a briefing suggesting the UK could sever security co- operation with EU countries that delay Brexit;
EU diplomats were discussing delaying Britain’s departure from the EU until next summer, with some even suggesting the next Brexit extension could last for a year;
A senior No 10 source said ministers could do ‘all sorts of things to scupper a Brexit delay’, despite a controversial new law requiring Mr Johnson to seek another extension if he fails to get a deal by October 19;
European Parliament chief David Sassoli told Mr Johnson in No 10 that his plans were a long way’ from being acceptable to MEPs;
Parliament was suspended to allow Mr Johnson to stage a Queen’s Speech next week in which he will set out a spending programme that will form the basis of a Tory election manifesto.
The clash with Mrs Merkel came as a major setback to Mr Johnson, who believed he had an understanding with EU leaders that they would engage positively with his compromise proposals. The PM had hoped that Europe’s leading powerbroker would assist in breaking the deadlock, urging her to ‘help get this boat off the rocks’.
But Mrs Merkel told him he would have to settle his differences with Brussels and Ireland. The PM’s spokesman said the two leaders had a ‘frank exchange’ – diplomatic code for a blazing row. Mr Johnson is said to be furious that EU leaders have simply ‘banked’ his compromises – which include keeping Northern Ireland in the single market for goods – without offering any of their own.
Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney said: ‘I don’t think things have reached an impasse but there are certainly significant gaps to close.’