Iain Macwhirter: Brexit talks crash-land with a Prime Minister on autopilot
DID Theresa May deliberately sabotage her own Brussels summit on Monday by not first clearing the Ireland border deal with the DUP? She is after all a Remainer. Perhaps it was an attempt to force her own divided party to accept a soft Brexit under which Britain would retain “continued regulatory alignment” with the European Union, as was suggested yesterday by the Scottish Tory leader, Ruth Davidson. For all the appearance of a shambles, was this manoeuvre worthy of a modern Machiavelli? Sadly no. I’m afraid this week’s extraordinary events were more like one of Baldrick’s cunning plans than any stratagem devised by the great Italian diplomat. It reeked of inept diplomatic staff work and uncertain political leadership. Worst of all, it betrayed an ignorance of Irish history. The UK Government seems unable to get its head round the problem of having a land border with the EU in Ireland, and persists in regarding it as a mere technicality – something dreamed up by Brussels to wring more money out of the UK.