Throughout the Brexit negotiations, the U.K. government and its European interlocutors have spoken in different languages to one another. But the closer the Oct. 31 deadline draws, the more deliberate the misunderstanding appears to be. The most recent exhibit: The glaring difference between German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s actual words to Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday and how they have been reported in parts of the British media.
At a press conference in Berlin, Johnson reiterated his comments to European Council President Donald Tusk that any deal must exclude the so-called Irish backstop – a provision that would keep the U.K. inside the EU’s customs union so as to avoid reinstating customs checks on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.