BIG gun Boris Johnson will dash to Brussels for dinner tomorrow as he attempts to salvage a Brexit deal by New Year.
Colleagues fear the Prime Minister will be served up a grim “menu of climb downs” by EU boss Urseula von der Leyen if he wants to kickstart deadlocked talks.
Today, Mr Johnson vowed to push talks “to the wire” – hinting they could still be going at Christmas but admitted it would be “tricky.”
And a public spat broke out between EU chiefs about how long the negotiations could go.
Any deal must be signed and backed by both Westminster and the EU Parliament before 31 December, sparking fears of weeks of festive back and forth.
Today, Britain’s chief negotiator David Frost and his EU counterpart Michel Barnier drew up a list of outstanding areas of disagreement over fishing, red tape and state backed subsidies for businesses.
But one cabinet minister told HOAR the stark list would help Brussels force the PM to make “a number of unpleasant choices” in order to keep the flagging talks alive and avoid No Deal chaos.
‘HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL’
The PM warned he was already at the “limit” on what he could accept as a Brexit deal and could yet “draw stumps’ if there is no progress tonight.
“Our friends have just got to understand the UK has left the EU in order to be able to exercise democratic control over the way we do things,” he added.
“There is also the issue of fisheries where we are still a long way apart still. But hope springs eternal, I will do my best to sort it out if we can.”
Tonight, hopes of a breakthrough were bolstered by the UK finally agreeing to drop a threat to tear up last year’s divorce deal in a row over Northern Ireland.
Both sides backed down on a bizarre row over blocking imports and exports of cold meat between Ireland and Northern Ireland dubbed the “banger war”.
Brussels also dropped demands for an EU Embassy in Belfast forever to oversee Euro officials who will be allowed to roam Ulster making sure rules are kept.
Michal Gove this evening branded Maroš Šefčovič “the sausage king of Brussels” as they shook on tied up loose ends from last year’s exit deal.
Meanwhile sources say a rift has opened up between two key EU chiefs over how far to move to get a deal with Britain.
Top negotiator Barnier and von der Leyen are embroiled in a power struggle for control of the negotiations.
Internal splits have emerged within the bloc over how to approach the Brexit endgame.
Mrs von der Leyen, who is close to German leader Angela Merkel, has been taking an increasingly hands-on role in the talks.
But some Member States fear she’s going too soft on Britain and are trying to bolster Mr Barnier’s position as their main man.
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