We might get somewhere with EU trade talks – but only if Boris Johnson sells defeat as victory

If the prime minister applies to Brexit the same creativity he afforded last year’s deal with Leo Varadkar, both he and David Frost should be able to make something work, writes John Rentoul

UK adviser David Frost (left) and EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier (Reuters)

Ignore today’s shadow boxing: the only question that matters is whether Boris Johnson can dress up a retreat as a negotiating triumph. He has done it before, and there is still time, but the nervousness on both sides today was palpable.

Michel Barnier, the EU negotiator, and David Frost, his British counterpart, both put on a good show. Barnier said: “I simply do not understand why we are wasting valuable time.” Frost retorted that the EU side was holding things up by insisting the UK must accept its position on state aid and fisheries “before any further substantive work can be done in any other area of the negotiation”.

They traded semantics on the meaning of “Brexit means Brexit”, which Barnier quoted only slightly mockingly to say that we could not continue to enjoy the benefits of membership now that we have left. Frost retaliated by saying the EU was refusing to accept the “reality” of Brexit, with the British team accusing the EU side of “still insisting we must accept arrangements that are like the Common Fisheries Policy”, for example.