RogerOThornhill wrote:Wait. What?
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The new National Security Adviser is a political appointment and he's not a civil servant?
David Frost isn't a civil servant, that's right.
This Tony Connelly piece suggests that UK want July/August Brexit talks but EU want to go to Autumn.
https://www.rte.ie/news/brexit/2020/061 ... ly-brexit/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Diplomats and EU officials say London has been lobbying hard in national capitals for a July tunnel and for member states to relax the negotiating mandate they have given Barnier.
"There is a very strong push to accelerate things in July, and that the autumn will be too late," says one diplomat. "[UK officials] have been saying this in [EU] capitals as well. There is an element that they don’t want to be backed into a corner, to mix metaphors, at a cliff edge, when everything is last minute."
......German officials have made it clear that when Berlin takes over the rotating EU presidency on 1 July their first priority will be the seven-year EU budget, known as the MFF (Multiannual Financial Framework), and the coronavirus recovery plan.
"There is an entrenched view in the EU now that the MFF comes first and Brexit second. Nobody is willing to engage in a detailed discussion, or a review of the negotiating mandate, now. That's all being looked at in September/October," says the diplomat.
Critics will say the EU can run down the clock until the autumn in order to keep the pressure on London.
It's not very long ago that govt was appearing very sanguine at the prospect of negotiations going to the wire and talking about the EU blinking at the last minute.
Is what's changed the desire for Frost to move on?
Sounds every bit as bonkers as their usual antics.