Could Boris Johnson break the Brexit impasse by binding Northern Ireland -- rather than all of the U.K. as pushed by his predecessor -- closely to the European Union until another arrangement was reached?
On one hand, Johnson has ruled it out. On the other hand, he’s floated the idea of an all-Irish food zone as a way of avoiding checks along the frontier between Ireland, which is part of the EU, and Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K. That suggests he might seek to revive a version of the Northern Irish backstop by another name.
