Merkel along with all the other European leaders must think not only are we crazy to be going through with Brexit at all but that we are doing it with such incredible zeal and single mindedness to the point of insanity.
Here is Connelly's tweet:
4/ The Prime Minister emphasised that progress must be made in the coming days to bridge the significant gaps, in particular in the areas of fisheries and the level playing field, through the process of intensive talks between Chief Negotiators.
— Tony Connelly (@tconnellyRTE) October 11, 2020
Someone, replying to Connelly said it sounded the same as what was said with regard to the call with Macron, like more "chest-beating crap that the UK is somehow prepared to self destruct their economy during a recession and a global pandemic" and I think we can all agree with that.
Reuters report the call briefly saying that:
"Johnson, who spoke to Merkel earlier on Sunday, repeated his belief that 'while achieving a deal in the coming days would be beneficial for both sides, the UK was also prepared to end the transition period on Australia-style terms'." Reuters felt it was necessary to end with "Australia does not have a trade deal with the EU" presumably to emphasise how stupid it was to suggest we should emulate terms that don't actually exist.
I am afraid we have a government headed by an incorrigible liar, that routinely used lies to win the referendum, used more lies to win an election and are still using lies to sustain Brexit. Can it go on forever? I don't believe it can. Truth will eventually raise its head.
But as if to show just how difficult Johnson has made things for himself, Reuters put out another piece this morning at 12:57am quoting from an FT report, which emphasised that EU leaders were insisting "on tough enforcement rules for any trade deal with Britain, warning that Prime Minister Boris Johnson's bid to override the Brexit treaty has shown Britain's word cannot be trusted, the Financial Times reported."
Britain may not always have been popular and has at times been known as "perfidious Albion" a term apparently coined by a French-Spanish playwright who wrote it in a poem in 1793, supposedly about Britain reneging on the Treaty of Limerick in 1691 (I looked it up in Wikipedia!), But I honestly cannot remember in my lifetime our having a prime minister whose word couldn't be trusted internationally. It is truly shaming. The economic and reputational damage will take years to recover from.
The Times claimed that Frost and Barnier had a "new understanding between the two sides" which said they would continue to "work together in areas of mutual interest to salvage as much as possible from the talks." They interpret this as an agreement to pursue ‘mini-deals’ if trade talks fail next week. I would not be so sure.
I noticed on Twitter that some people, living in Germany said the Johnson/Merkel call was not even mentioned in the German media. Brexit is that important. But this is the make or break week for Brexit.
I think we will see more concessions from the UK side and no breakdown. They will agree to continue to the end of the month and at sometime before the end of October, they will enter "the tunnel" (when that happens you will know the EU have what they want) and we will get an announcement a deal has been reached. It will be a super-duper, world-beating deal that only Britain's tough stand could have obtained and it will mark the beginning of the end of Johnson.
His performance during the Covid pandemic has been lamentable and the "thin" deal he comes back with will be the final straw among Tory MPs. It will bind us to EU rules, albeit through some independent mechanism and at the same time deliver a disastrous blow to industry. On January 1st expect pennies to start dropping.
