Odds of a Brexit Deal Fade as Boris Johnson and Angela Merkel Clash

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There are dangers for Mr. Johnson in appearing to pursue a scorched earth strategy. Late on Tuesday, Downing Street said it hopes to schedule a meeting this week with the Irish prime minister, Leo Varadkar, a vocal critic of the prime minister’s proposal.

For Mr. Johnson himself, however, winning the blame game could be critical to winning the election most analysts say is coming soon, perhaps next month. His Conservative Party faces a significant threat from the hard-line Brexit Party, which will seize on any perceived weakness in Mr. Johnson’s dealings with the European Union over Brexit — particularly if he appears too compliant in delaying Brexit.

Since Mr. Johnson took office in July, his aides have insisted that the prime minister was using “all means necessary,” in the words of his principal adviser, Dominic Cummings, to leave the European Union by the end of October. The message to pro-Brexit voters was that, if ultimately Mr. Johnson had to accept another delay, it would be the fault of many others, not him.

“What drives Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings is that they want an election,” said Jonathan Faull, a former senior official in the European Commission. “They also want the best possible circumstances in which to hold it, and that is a blame game.”

To Charles Grant, the director of the Center for European Reform, a research institute, it is all about constructing a narrative of “the people versus the elite.”

“They understand theater in Downing Street,” Mr. Grant said, “and the theater of ‘the people’s Boris’ being pushed around by out-of-touch judges and other European Council leaders, suits his narrative.”

There is some evidence the strategy is working. A survey for the Daily Telegraph by the polling firm, ComRes, found that only just over half of voters, or 56 percent, would blame Mr. Johnson if Brexit does not happen on Oct 31, while 83 percent said they would blame Parliament.



Source : Nytimes