London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Sunday, Aug 10, 2025

Irritation all round at handling of move against Brexit protocol

Irritation all round at handling of move against Brexit protocol

Analysis: leak blindsided US officials, caused shock waves in Europe and appears to have annoyed No 10
Given that it has just announced a bill that could spark a trade war in the middle of a cost of living crisis, it is remarkable how often members of the government say that what they want is for everyone to calm down.

The intention to legislate is now formally announced but when the bill will be seen by MPs is intentionally unclear. The Northern Ireland secretary, Brandon Lewis, says it was never meant to be this week. Of course it wasn’t. Now the only commitment is “before the summer”.

Was it meant to happen like this? The original plan began with Conor Burns, with his new title of US special envoy on the Northern Ireland protocol, being dispatched to Boston and Washington to bend ears over the UK’s predicament. Burns was tasked with softening up a sceptical White House that the protocol needed to change, armed with the hefty tomes of paperwork required from traders under the new system to demonstrate how bad the situation is.

And it might have been a reasonable diplomatic mission if the Times had not spiked his guns with leaked plans for the bill that was announced by Liz Truss on Tuesday. US diplomats and key lawmakers fumed at being blindsided.

A day earlier in the US, papers were briefed on how hardline Truss was prepared to be and how her cabinet colleagues – and leadership rivals – Rishi Sunak and Michael Gove had gone soft. It was “leadership feather-fluttering”, one cabinet source said of Truss.

The leak of the plans sent shock waves through European capitals, prompting threats to cancel the UK’s trade deal, one of three weapons available to either side in the trade deal. Truss hit back in late-night briefed quotes, saying solutions proposed by the EU would make the situation worse.

All of the above might suggest a row has been choreographed – Boris Johnson has been happy to use memories of the Brexit fight as a way to gee up flagging backbench support. But sources close to Johnson seem genuinely miffed and there has been no attempt to disguise the irritation with Truss over how this has been handled.

No 10 sources have openly briefed against Truss in lurid detail across the Sunday papers. Even on Monday they were emphasising that Johnson had had firm words with his foreign secretary and told her to cool things down. So now there is some need for damage control – perhaps because Johnson had hoped he could adopt a statesmanlike persona and announce the bill with a “more in sorrow than in anger” tone.

For the past few days he has been playing the peacemaker, releasing a 2,200-word essay on Northern Ireland on Monday that was far more thoughtful on issues of nationhood than some of his critics might have expected. But of course it is also probably satisfying for Johnson to see his biggest rivals, Sunak and Truss, a little cowed – though his foreign secretary has ultimately got what she wanted.

Most ministers are optimistic there will be progress in talks, as are the Tory MPs who are wary of voting for the bill but believe it will never come to that. Those with even medium-term memories will remember a similar tactic on the internal markets bill and its plans to break international law “in a limited and specific way”. The bill was a transparent negotiating tactic and was dropped as soon as it became expedient to do so.

Still, it is hard to argue there is not even more urgency now with Northern Ireland lacking a functioning government. On Monday the DUP leader, Jeffrey Donaldson, stared down the tactic and said the announcement that legislation was coming was “just words”.

The big, perhaps unintended consequences of the past week is that it seems to have turbo-charged the DUP into going further on their anti-protocol tactics than before, warning they will not return to Stormont until the law is enacted.

If this is all “just words”, no one knows quite how the real action will play out.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Street justice isn’t pretty but how else do you deal with this kind of insanity? Sometimes someone needs to standup and say something
Armenia and Azerbaijan sign U.S.-brokered accord at White House outlining transit link via southern Armenia
Barcelona Resolves Captaincy Issue with Marc-André ter Stegen
US Justice Department Seeks Release of Epstein and Maxwell Grand Jury Exhibits Amid Legal and Victim Challenges
Trump Urges Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan to Resign Over Alleged Chinese Business Ties
Scotland’s First Minister Meets Trump Amid Visit Highlighting Whisky Tariffs, Gaza Crisis and Heritage Links
Trump Administration Increases Reward for Arrest of Venezuelan President Maduro to Fifty Million Dollars
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
OpenAI Launches GPT‑5, Its Most Advanced AI Model Yet
Embarrassment in Britain: Homelessness Minister Evicted Tenants and Forced to Resign
President Trump nominated Stephen Miran, his top economic adviser and a critic of the Federal Reserve, to temporarily fill an open Fed seat
The AI-Powered Education Revolution: Market Potential and Transformative Impact
Chikungunya Virus Outbreak in Southern China: Over 7,000 Hospitalized
French wine makers have seen catastrophic damage to vines that were almost ready to be harvested after the worst fires in more than 70 years burned through the south of the country
US Lawmaker Probes Intel CEO’s China Ties Amid National Security Concerns
Brazilian President Lula says he’ll contact the leaders of BRICS states to propose a unified response to U.S. tariffs
Trump Open to Meeting Putin as Soon as Next Week, with Possible Trilateral Summit Including Zelenskiy
Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau spark dating rumors, joining high stakes world of celeb-politician romances
US envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow to seek a breakthrough in the Ukraine war ahead of President Trump’s peace deadline
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Karol Nawrocki Inaugurated as Poland’s President, Setting Stage for Clash with Tusk Government
Trump Signals JD Vance as ‘Most Likely’ MAGA Successor for 2028
US Charges Two Chinese Nationals for Illegal Nvidia AI Chip Exports
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
U.S. Tariff Policy Triggers Market Volatility Amid Growing Global Trade Tensions
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
Representative Greene Urges H-1B Visa Cuts Amid U.S.-India Trade Tensions
U.S. House Committee Subpoenas Clintons and Senior Officials in Epstein Investigation
Sydney Sweeney Registered as Republican as Controversial American Eagle Ad Sparks Debate
Trump Accuses Major Banks of Politically Motivated Account Denials and Prepares Executive Order
TikTok Removes Huda Kattan Video Over Anti-Israel Conspiracy Claims
Trump Threatens Tariffs on India Over Russian Oil Imports
German Finance Minister Criticizes Trump’s Attacks on Institutions
U.S. Proposes Visa Bond of Up to $15,000 for Some Applicants
U.S. Farmers Increase Lobbying Amid Immigration Crackdown
Elon Musk Receives $23.7 Billion Tesla Stock Award
Texas House Paralyzed After Democrats Walk Out Over Redistricting
Mexican Cartels Complicate Sheinbaum’s U.S. Security Talks
Mark Zuckerberg Declares War on the iPhone
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
Tesla Seeks Shareholder Approval for $29 Billion Compensation Package for Elon Musk
Nvidia is cutting prices on its RTX 50-series graphics cards after sales slowed and inventories piled up
Ghislaine Maxwell Transferred to Minimum-Security Prison Amid Ongoing DOJ Discussions
U.S. Tariffs Surge to Highest Levels in Nearly a Century Under Second Trump Term
×