Boris Johnson on Tuesday urged Leo Varadkar to keep faith with talks on a possible Brexit deal, despite Downing Street fears that the prospects for an agreement before October 31 are all but dead.
Mr Johnson’s allies said the British prime minister would meet the taoiseach later in the week to try to resuscitate the talks, after a day of acrimony in which Number 10 aides accused Mr Varadkar and Angela Merkel of blocking a deal.
Donald Tusk, European Council president, retaliated by accusing Mr Johnson of engaging in a “stupid blame game”, but both sides seemed determined on Tuesday night to cool tempers and avoid a complete breakdown.
Mr Johnson’s team described a 40-minute telephone call with Mr Varadkar as “constructive” and said they expected the prime minister to meet his Irish counterpart on Thursday or Friday for more talks.
“Both sides strongly reiterated their desire to reach a Brexit deal,” a Downing Street spokesman said.
Each camp remains far apart on the key issue of how to handle the Irish border, with tensions fuelled by what Downing Street called a “frank” 30-minute phone call between Mr Johnson and Ms Merkel.
Mr Johnson’s aides claimed Ms Merkel argued that Northern Ireland would have to remain in the EU customs union under any Brexit deal in order to avoid a hard border. Mr Johnson has insisted that the region must stay in the UK customs territory.
“Merkel said that if Germany wanted to leave the EU, they could do it no problem, but the UK cannot leave without leaving Northern Ireland behind in a customs union and in full alignment forever,” said a Downing Street insider.
“The call with Merkel showed the EU has adopted a new position. She made clear a deal is overwhelmingly unlikely and she thinks the EU has a veto on us leaving the customs union.”
Sterling slipped to its lowest level against the euro for a month.
The Downing Street account caused outrage among Ms Merkel’s supporters. “Johnson is misusing the phone conversation to start a blame game,” said Norbert Röttgen, a senior MP in the chancellor’s CDU/ CSU group.
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There is pessimism in Brussels and London about the prospects of a deal by October 31, let alone by the time of an EU summit next week. Talk in Brussels is turning to an extension of the Brexit process — something Mr Johnson has vowed cannot happen.
Mr Johnson’s allies have not confirmed that the prime minister will definitely attend the October 17-18 summit, especially if it turns into a discussion about the terms and length of any extension to the Article 50 exit process.
With talks on the verge of collapse, an unnamed Number 10 source wrote a remarkable note in which they claimed Britain would punish EU member states if they agreed to extend the Article 50 exit process.
Mr Johnson’s aides fear that the EU will decide to push the prime minister into seeking a delay to Brexit, precipitating a general election and possibly a second referendum, with the possible result that Brexit is reversed.
A note published by The Spectator — attributed to a “contact in Number 10” and not disowned by Downing Street — said there was a threat that any EU member state that agreed to delay Brexit would be guilty of “hostile” interference in British politics.
