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The Telegraph

After almost four years of Brexit negotiations, Michel Barniers famous clock was still ticking. On Wednesday night, expectation was high that the EU and UK would finally strike the trade deal both sides have been waiting for. All seemed set fair for the white smoke on the agreement to be sent up but a last-minute hitch stalled progress. Negotiators were locked in a final push to get the deal over the line, determined not to add another missed deadline to a pile of discarded Brexit deadlines. The finger of blame in Brussels was pointed in the direction of an anonymous French official who had boasted to a news agency that Boris Johnson had made massive last-minute concessions. After that was flashed on the wires, progress ground to a halt. Cant they just shut up as long as there isnt a deal? It only provokes a reaction, an EU diplomat raged. The chances are that it wasn't entirely the fault of a blabbermouth official. A more likely culprit was a discussion on what the trading rules for electric car parts would be from January 1. But a deal is still tantalisingly close and real progress towards a final agreement on fishing, the level playing field and the deals enforcement was made on Wednesday. Mr Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, haggled furiously over fishing rights as the two leaders took control of the trade talks, speaking at least five times over the course of the day. It was only after being told no by the EU three times in one week that Boris Johnson started saying yes to Brussels. The road to the deal was paved after Emmanuel Macron, the French president, and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, rejected the Prime Ministers pleas for direct talks in early December. UK-EU trade negotiations had been deadlocked since March over the issues of fishing, the level playing field guarantees and the deals enforcement. Mrs von der Leyen informed Mr Johnson that his request for direct intervention to find a breakthrough in the talks was denied for the second time. He was welcome to ask again, she told him over a fish supper on the 13th floor of commission headquarters on Wednesday, but the answer would still be no. But the December 9 dinner was also the beginning of an understanding between Mr Johnson and the president of the European Commission.

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