Negotiations on post-Brexit trade in Northern Ireland have been held in near-lockdown from the very start, with 'probably only five people' knowing the full details
Once it became clear that after years of tortured dispute the UK and EU were finally ready to do a deal on post-Brexit trade in Northern Ireland, the negotiations went into near-lockdown.
One foreign diplomat said that out of the whole EU administration of 30,000 staff, “probably only five people know”.The level of secrecy still failed to stop some Westminster journalists from getting wind of an outline agreement being signed earlier this month, which was correctly reported. It is part of what Brussels now sees as a stage in negotiations geared towards Mr Sunak finding the right specifics in a deal and the right timing to avoid a major political clash with both the Democratic Unionist Party and arch-Brexiteer MPs in the Tory European Research Group .
Following a meeting at the annual Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Downing Street released a statement saying that Mr Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had made positive progress on tackling issues surrounding the Northern Ireland Protocol. Another Tory insider pointed to the presence of Oliver Lewis, a veteran of Boris Johnson’s Downing Street known as “Sonic”, as a sign that the Prime Minister is keen to keep good relations with Brexit hardlines such as outspoken former Cabinet minister Lord Frost. “I don’t think Sonic would be doing this without speaking to Frosty,” they said., insisting that only their so-called “star chamber” of EU legal experts will decide whether to give any deal the green light.
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