Backstop cheer

Clarity brings its own rewards. Boris Johnson went to Berlin yesterday and reaffirmed his absolute insistence that the Irish backstop must be dropped from the EU Withdrawal Agreement if there is to be a Brexit deal. But far from rejecting this out of hand, as widely predicted – especially by Remainers – Angela Merkel left the door open to talks and a possible solution.

The German Chancellor is nothing if not a pragmatist. She wants her country and the EU as a whole to retain good relations with the UK after Brexit. This is important diplomatically, militarily and economically. Mr Johnson has been accused of excessive and unjustified optimism in maintaining that a way through can be found. But Mrs Merkel was by no means dismissive. She conceded that the new UK government did not like the backstop and that it might be possible over the next 30 days to devise an alternative strategy.

To that end, Mr Johnson needs to come up with workable proposals on the border, after which Mrs Merkel said a way could be found to reach a mutually beneficial trade agreement. Her approach contrasted with the hard-line rejectionism of Brussels – so much so that commentators who take their lead from the unelected bureaucrats were caught out and could not accept what they were hearing.

In the end, this matter must be decided by the politicians who are accountable at the ballot box for the future wellbeing of their citizens, not by those who are content to harm their interests in order to preserve a moribund agreement. However, whether this auspicious start to Mr Johnson’s first foreign foray will continue in Paris today remains to be seen.