Why close ties between Germany and the UK are essential, even after Brexit

Now that Britain has left the EU, the dynamic between the two nations is changing but, as Sean O’Grady explains, a friendly relationship is vital to the success of both the UK and Germany

Boris Johnson welcomes German chancellor Angela Merkel to Chequers with an elbow bump on Friday (AFP/Getty)

Obviously such things are highly confidential, but when Angela Merkel met the Queen, the two might well have given one another a meaningful glance when the words “Boris Johnson” cropped up. These two stateswomen have plenty of stamina, and lots of experience of the odd people – mostly men – who so often end up in No 10, and of course Johnson ranks as one of the more unusual. The Queen is on her 14th British prime minister, but the chancellor of Germany has been around long enough to be onto her fifth.

Great honour as meeting the Queen to take your leave may be, it is Chancellor Merkel’s encounter with Johnson that is the more politically significant. Certainly, she is now on her way out, and, by the end of the year her successor could even be the leader of the Green Party, Annalena Baerbock, such is its strength in the opinion polls. In other words, whatever Merkel’s views and policies may be now, they will certainly be less relevant in the years ahead. Brexit will also mean an evolving new relationship between these two traditional rivals powers.