Boris Johnson just faced by far his toughest interview of the campaign. He was pressed hard on Brexit, Kim Darroch’s resignation, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and his economic policy by Andrew Neil. At the end of the interview, Boris Johnson looked at his watch—I suspect it seemed to him much longer than the half an hour it was.
On Brexit, Boris Johnson made his usual case. But his attempt to sound like a details man by citing Gatt 24 Article 5B came rather a cropper when Andrew Neil asked him what was in Article 5C. Boris Johnson had no answer.
When Andrew Neil pressed him on whether he would really walk away and do no deal on October 31st if a deal was almost there, Boris Johnson replied:
‘And I think it would be absolutely insane now to say that yet again we have a you know, a phoney deadline’
What is so interesting about this response is the use of the word ‘now’, it suggests that Boris Johnson might become more flexible about the October 31st deadline nearer the time if a deal is there.
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