so ended a week in which boris johnson
having flown to brussels to try and
sprinkle a little personal magic into
this process
was rebuffed by the eu by this morning
as hopes of a trade deal apparently
faded
he was giving this assessment there's a
way to go
uh we're hopeful that progress can be
made but
i've got to tell you that from where i
stand now
here in blithe it's looking it's looking
you know
very very likely that we'll have to go
for
a solution that i think would be you
know
wonderful for the uk we'd be able to do
exactly what we want from
uh from january the first day obviously
it would be uh
different from what we'd set out to
achieve but i've no doubt that this
country
can get ready to many brexiteers steeped
in the idea
that the eu only talks seriously at the
11th hour
the idea of a dash to brussels by boris
johnson seemed to make sense
and it offered the chance to repeat his
achievement of last year
in improving the withdrawal agreement
but the eu was determined
to deny him access to national leaders
and not to concede on any
point of substance this morning we
learned that on monday
president macron and chancellor merkel
both refused requests from number 10 for
consultations by phone
routing mr johnson back to the eu's top
official
ursula van der leyen with the attempt to
get political intervention from france
or germany thwarted
the pm's wednesday visit to brussels was
simply a moment
in which both sides restated their
positions
and the eu was determined to send him
packing before its leaders arrived for
their summit
yesterday if he'd ever hoped to make his
case to them in person
it was not to be there was some concern
about boris johnson having
a range of bilaterals with different
leaders
right at the end of the negotiation this
notion of unity has been very very
important
and of course different member states
are affected differently by a deal and
no deal
so the risk that some kinks in that
narrative around unity would appear at
the last moment i think was something of
a concern
so better if boris is not there and if
he is has to work through
the european commission president ursula
van der leyen
the leaders dinner last night miss van
der leyen's report on the british talks
lasted only 10 minutes
briefing that out looks like a
deliberate snub
undaunted boris johnson offered to fly
to have face-to-face
talks with eu leaders in order to find a
solution
we've got to keep going and we'll go the
extra mile
and we will and i will go to brussels
i'll go to paris
i'll go to berlin or wherever to try to
to
get this home and get to a deal but this
too
was swiftly rejected
i would invite him to stay in london and
work at it he must help his team to come
to an agreement with the european team
by this morning ursula van der leyen was
suggesting that the eu would make a
unilateral assessment on sunday
as to whether there's any point having
further talks
we will decide on sunday
whether we have the conditions for an
agreement or not
the eu's rebuff this week essentially
take it or leave it
was rather reminiscent of the greek debt
crisis
and the treatment meted out to that
country's leaders
will it leave boris johnson so
humiliated that he can only choose no
deal
well the eu did leave the door slightly
ajar
in today's post-summit briefing ursula
van der laan did at least suggest
that the level playing field provisions
at the heart of the remaining
disagreement
might be less onerous than imagined but
this is
not to say that we would require the uk
to follow us every time we decide to
raise our level of ambition
for example in the environmental field
they would remain free sovereign
if you wish to decide what they want to
do
so are the leaders masking a readiness
to compromise at this late stage
and could they pile pressure on boris
johnson by declaring this weekend that
the talks are over
to see if that raises the economic cost
to the uk
we'll know more on sunday evening