Metaphors abound as UK-EU talks get more urgent
- Published
A classic of the genre.
After the talks between political leaders today, a rash of metaphors or mottoes unsurprisingly emerges, rather than any solid confessions of what was really discussed.
It has been quite some time since the top brass of British and EU politics have been engaging with each other and the public on Brexit.
But within half an hour of the video call between Boris Johnson and the Presidents of the European Council and the European Commission finishing today, the boilerplate statements were out there.
The prime minister called for "oomph", and his desire to put a "tiger in the tank".
Confusingly, the President of the European Council then said he was willing to do just that, but wouldn't accept a "pig in a poke" - in other words, he won't sign up to any old deal without being very sure what it really entails.
Then, not to be outdone, the President of the European Parliament got in on the act with a Latin saying, "pacta sunt servanda".
If, like me, you had to look that one up, it means agreements must be kept. A sophisticated reminder that one of the EU's determinations is to make absolutely sure that the UK doesn't budge from anything that was agreed in the Political Declaration, part of the Brexit deal, last year.
What there was not today was any sense of where the compromises required for a deal will emerge.
There is certainly the possibility of a deal. But it's also certain that both sides will have to step back somehow from their 'maximalist' positions, to use the jargon that the talks began with.
That doesn't mean, however, that today's talks didn't matter. After months of negotiations that have stuttered and stumbled, the public commitments from the top brass could inject a bit of political urgency, a bit of the alchemy that matters in these kind of negotiations.
It's also significant that the EU confirmed publicly that they have "noted" that the UK won't ask for an extension.
It's one thing the Tories saying repeatedly that they won't ask for it, despite plenty of political muttering on both sides of the Channel that it was inevitable.
But it's quite another the government saying it officially, and the EU now accepting it.
And it's also worth noting the prime minister didn't use the opportunity to repeat that he is willing to walk away if a deal isn't reached. That is the government's position, but today's encounter was less about that kind of sabre rattling and more about trying to smooth a swift path ahead after months of negotiations.
There will now be a more intense programme of talks, but the prime minister's hope of an acceleration that could do a deal next month seems quite the stretch.
Deadlines concentrate the mind but they don't make complicated questions disappear - and there are already plans for talks in August.
And the coronavirus crisis has so dominated both sides' time and energy, that closing a deal has been far from the top of their list.