From the moment Michel Barnier was made the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator in July 2016 he was at the heart of talks to reach a deal with the UK government.
Mr Barnier watched his opposite numbers come and go as the EU and UK first agonised over the terms of a transition deal and then later concluded a trade agreement.
But what can we learn from his 500 pages of memoirs about the turbulent talks and what he thought of his UK counterparts?
Unlike in many political diaries, Mr Barnier resists the urge to paint vindictive pen portraits of those with whom he crosses paths. But he certainly lets us know what he made of them.
He’s wary of underestimating new Prime Minister Boris Johnson despite all the comic bluff and bluster. In September 2019, he perceives him to be “advancing like a bulldozer” – determined to flatten opposition.
Maybe Mr Johnson was reading his mind, as just three months later he jumped into a JCB and careered through a fake brick ball, vowing to “Get Brexit Done.”
As for the triumphant Brexiteers who subsequently entered Downing Street, Mr Barnier simply does not trust them.
The quote from King Lear “Bring in Madness, banish Reason!” features prominently and Mr Barnier doesn’t shift in his assessment that leaving the EU makes no sense.
As for those outside government who were instrumental in the 2016 EU referendum, the then UKIP leader Nigel Farage is viewed as a comical, but dangerous figure.
Source: bbc.com
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