“Boris Johnson, bouffon de la reine” - court jester - from France’s Liberation pretty much sums up the reaction in EU capitals to the UK’s, and indeed our, new Prime Minister. 

The congratulation letter from EU President Donald Tusk - the man who implored the UK “please do not waste this time” when the last extension was agreed - was even blunter.  His two sentence letter ended with “I look forward to meeting you to discuss - in detail - our co-operation.”  It reads more like a ‘see me after class’ note from a particularly exasperated teacher, something Mr Johnson was apparently no stranger to while at Eton.

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We’re a long way from strong and stable leadership I’d suggest.  Mr Johnson in Brussels is actually well remembered from his days as a journalist here, political Brussels is a bit of a village and people tend to know of, if not know, each other.  Also more recently, as Foreign Secretary, he was back and forth to Brussels a lot for Foreign Affairs Council meetings and was notorious for not reading his brief and erratic participation.

Be in no doubt, he is universally dismissed as a lightweight. 

Good fun to go for a pint with but not someone to be taken seriously. His elevation to PM makes the UK look even more foolish than it has managed in the last months and years.

The reaction from MEPs has been mixed, more tinged with sadness than anger. More a resigned shrug of the shoulders rather than much of a response. After three years of Brexit nonsense folk have disengaged, in much the same way as an Italian government falling and being replaced with a new shower of lightweights does not get much of an emotional response, so folks in Brussels are wary of paying much attention to the UK’s travails. 

The Brexit Steering Group of the European Parliament, which, remember, will need to approve any deal whatever it contains, was scathing.  “Recent statements ... made during the Conservative Party leadership campaign, have greatly increased the risk of a disorderly exit of the UK.  A no-deal exit would be economically very damaging, even if such damage would not be inflicted equally on both parties”.  The group also set our collective face against any “mini deals” or “standstill trading period” whatever that is.

This is a tragedy, because we’re heading for the rocks and sentiment has hardened against us. If it must be no deal, then so be it, is the general view now.  The damage will be immense, but will hit the UK more and Scotland more than that. Most EU businesses, having taken the threat far more seriously than the UK has, have worked up contingency plans and detailed preparations. Over on Crazy Island the penny has yet to drop that no deal is more likely than it was.

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But all is not lost. Where the chances of no deal have risen, in my view so have the chances of no Brexit. The election of the incoming EU Commission President Dr Ursula von der Leyen I think helps those of us who are working not to make the best of Brexit but to stop it altogether and was instrumental in SNP MEPs backing her in the vote. She is bright, articulate, and as she said to me in our Group hearing prior to her election “a Remainer!”  She is clear that she is open to the idea of a further extension beyond 31 October, so long as a good reason for it is presented.

She was also explicit that it is open to us to reverse Brexit altogether without political consequences “because the consequences of you leaving are worse.” I was one of the cross-party group of Scottish politicians who took the UK government all the way to the European Court of Justice to clarify that it is open to the UK to revoke Article 50 at any time up to exit, so where we already knew that in legal terms her clarification that we are indeed welcome to do so is heartening.

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But how to reach that point? The only clear thing that has emerged from the Commons lately is that there is a workable majority against no deal. But so what? No deal happens by the expiry of the extension on 31 October unless something is put in its place or Article 50 is revoked. We could revoke either by a vote in the House of Commons, or after a referendum if the MPs are not feeling brave. Mr Johnson has blustered his way so far, but reality will dawn soon enough and everything that bedevilled Mrs May remains in place - except Mr Johnson himself. He needs a way out, a referendum is it and we should be preparing for it. 

There’s no good Brexit, I’m determined to do all I can to reverse Brexit altogether for the whole of the UK. But if we can’t and the new UK government really is hell-bent on destruction, then it is as well Scotland has another option - independence in Europe.