Katy Balls

Since Britain voted to leave the European Union, every prime minister has had to grapple with the conundrum of the Irish border. How can Brexit be delivered, while protecting Northern Ireland’s place within the United Kingdom and avoiding a land border with the EU? The hope is that the DUP will refrain from coming out against a Sunak deal even if they fail to endorse it Theresa May tried to solve the dilemma with the Chequers agreement, which would have kept the whole of the UK in an effective customs union with Brussels. It ended her premiership. Boris Johnson opted to let Great Britain differ from EU rules, which excluded Northern Ireland and created a de facto border in the Irish sea.

Rishi Sunak is once again facing an unhelpful intervention from one of his predecessors. As the Prime Minister attempts to finalise a deal on the Northern Ireland Protocol – spending the past few days meeting both with the DUP and the president of the European Commission – Boris Johnson has issued a warning. A source close to Johnson told the Sunday Telegraph that ditching the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill in favour of a new Brexit deal would be a ‘great mistake’. Speaking this morning on the BBC, government minister Penny Mordaunt sought to downplay the comment – describing it as ‘not an entirely unhelpful intervention’.

A deal on the Northern Ireland protocol could be imminent – if the various factions agree. Rishi Sunak is this evening flying to Northern Ireland in a bid to sell the new deal on the protocol to the Democratic Unionist party. The Prime Minister is expected to hold talks in Belfast before meeting with the EU’s Ursula von der Leyen over the weekend. Already there are warning shots from the DUP. The party’s chief whip has said: ‘Anything which does not deal with the democractic deficit and the imposition of EU law on Northern Ireland will not get our support.’ The role of the European Court of Justice is the most contentious aspect for both the DUP and Tory Brexiteers.

Is there a plot to unravel Brexit? Tory Eurosceptics are asking this question after the Observer published details over the weekend of a ‘secret summit’ to address the ‘failings’ of Brexit. The paper reports that the two-day event in Ditchley Park was a cross-party affair. Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy – who previously backed a second referendum – was in attendance, as was Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove, who under Theresa May backed the Chequers deal. Lammy and Gove were in a group which included Peter Mandelson and David Lidington, May’s former deputy. There were several Brexiteers in attendance, such as former Tory party leader Michael Howard and former Labour MP Gisela Stuart.

When Rishi Sunak embarked on a reshuffle of his cabinet this week, he wanted to avoid the traditional scrum of cameras as MPs walked up to the No. 10 door. Instead, the Prime Minister called each minister to inform them of his shake-up of their Whitehall departments to create new ministries to reflect his priorities. It was typical of the Sunak premiership. Where his predecessors would go out of their way to court press attention, this PM prefers to be low key. Early on, No. 10 viewed it as a success that the World Cup dominated the front pages over politics. The hope among Team Sunak is that this quieter approach will be welcomed by a public worn down by Tory psychodrama. ‘Boris is in submarine mode,’ says one Tory MP.