Skip to main content
Brussels: Boris does the Brexit dance as the US waits in the wings
The Union flag flies outside the Berlaymont building, the Headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels, for the first time this year ahead of the visit by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson

MUCH of the Brexit endgame is conducted as theatre.

No surprise to shop stewards, union negotiators or even market traders who know from long experience that what appears as an irremovable obstruction to agreement can suddenly vanish into thin air and that a posture of resolute resistance is often the precursor of sudden breakthrough.

Johnson's Brussels day trip is his opportunity to grab the limelight with the promise of a last-minute deal. The sudden concession in agreeing to remove elements of the Internal Market Bill was designed to change the mood music.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Chinese Embassy is pictured in Tokyo, January 11, 2023. Photo: Kazushi Kurihara/Kyodo News via AP
World / 24 March 2026
24 March 2026
Monica Crowley, White House chief of protocol (obstructed at left) greets European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, right, upon arriving to meet with President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, August 18, 2025
Features / 28 August 2025
28 August 2025

US tariffs have had Von der Leyen bowing in submission, while comments from the former European Central Bank leader call for more European political integration and less individual state sovereignty. All this adds up to more pain and austerity ahead, argues NICK WRIGHT

Wagons of a derailed regional passenger train lie on a railroad line near Riedlingen, Germany, July 28, 2025
World / 29 July 2025
29 July 2025