Lord Hague: PM has persuaded EU he is ‘crazy enough to go for No Deal’

Boris Johnson has persuaded the EU he is ‘crazy enough’ to walk away from post-Brexit trade talks without a deal, according to Lord Hague. 

The Tory former foreign secretary said the Prime Minister had ‘mounted an effective, thoroughly convincing and true demonstration of his own readiness’ to accept a chaotic split from the bloc on December 31. 

As a result, Mr Johnson has created the circumstances in which a mutually beneficial deal could still be done, Lord Hague argued, because Brussels believes the PM will quit the talks if the terms are not acceptable.   

Referring to Mr Johnson’s meeting with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday, Lord Hague said: ‘It is an advantage at such a moment if your counterpart believes you are crazy enough to cause a lot of damage rather than settle for a poor outcome.’

The ex-Conservative leader’s intervention came amid growing hopes a deal could still be possible after the UK reportedly moved on the crunch issue of the ‘level playing field’ on future rules. 

Post-Brexit fishing rights is now viewed as the biggest stumbling block to a deal amid speculation an agreement could be possible this week.  

The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, is said to have told a private meeting of ambassadors that a deal could be hammered out in the coming days but only if the UK gives ground on fishing.

Mr Barnier told the briefing that Britain had now accepted the need for a ‘rebalancing mechanism’ on rules which could resolve the ‘level playing field’ row. 

The mechanism would allow tariffs to be imposed on the UK if it departs too far from EU rules and regulations.

However, Lord Frost, his UK counterpart, is said to have demanded that the EU drop its insistence on linking fishing rights to trade in return for the concession, but Brussels turned him down. 

An EU diplomatic source told The Telegraph: ‘He was a lot less gloomy than I was expecting. If both sides can come out of their trenches on fish, Barnier said there could be a deal this week.’ 

Another diplomat said ‘there might now be a narrow path to an agreement’ if the ‘remaining hurdles’ can be cleared in the next few days. 

Lord Hague today said there had been a ‘slight improvement in the atmosphere of the talks’ in recent days and that Mr Johnson is responsible. 

Writing in The Telegraph he argued the PM’s apparent willingness to end the ‘standstill’ transition period on December 31 without a deal had forced the EU to adopt a more realistic negotiating stance. 

‘It is time to acknowledge the crucial role played in producing that improvement by the convincing performance of the Prime Minister himself,’ Lord Hague wrote. 

‘That is not to say that the Government’s overall approach, which has included digging a hole of potentially breaking international law and then digging itself out of it, has always been convincing.

‘Nor that the state of preparations for all the consequences of no deal at ports is yet strong enough to be reassuring. But Boris has mounted an effective, thoroughly convincing and true demonstration of his own readiness, personally and politically, to walk away from an unsatisfactory deal.’

Lord Hague said he still believes a no deal split would be ‘disastrous’ for both the UK and the EU. 

But he insisted that in a ‘tricky negotiation, the other side has to know you are ready to ditch the whole thing’. 

Lord Hague said of Ms von der Leyen’s dinner with Mr Johnson last weekend that the President of the European Commission will have ‘looked into his eyes and seen that he is adamant that he is prepared to leave with no deal’. 

‘It is an advantage at such a moment if your counterpart believes you are crazy enough to cause a lot of damage rather than settle for a poor outcome,’ he said.

Mr Johnson has warned there is a ‘strong possibility’ of Britain and Brussels failing to agree a deal which would force the two sides to trade on basic World Trade Organisation terms from January 1 and see tariffs imposed on goods.