[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

I'm afraid I'm not party to Pierre's views on the psychology at play here.

We held all the cards for the easiest trade deal ever, so I'm surprised at the need to renegotiate a fantastic deal.

Johnson should have learnt from the Paterson scandal that trying to change the rules during the game rarely works.

Marking your own homework neatly describes what he wanted to do in Parliament by appointing a new standards committee dominated by the governing party. The Single Market is overseen by the ECJ and that's why it is involved in Northern Ireland. That link cannot be broken simply because the right wing of the Conservative Party have an ideological aversion to it.

<SNIP>

The conflation of the Paterson business with Brexit is of no value. If you're criticising Boris, then fine. But as this part of the topic is about what Pierre has postulated and particularly in respect of Article 16 then the UK government is doing the right thing to try to get out of the NI Protocol given the instability it is causing.