Frost vs Barnier: who will triumph in the Brexit trade talks?

What would Disraeli make of Brexit? His advice to ‘read no history; nothing but biography, for that is life without theory’ is a useful starting point. Brexit has been – and continues to be – a hotch-potch of biographies where human weaknesses, strengths and foibles chafe and collide. The upcoming clash between the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier and his British counterpart David Frost is no exception.

On 2 March, Barnier, who is responsible for leading the ‘Task Force for relations with the United Kingdom’ will face Frost, the British head of ‘Taskforce Europe’, across the negotiating table for the first time. These two titles might sound mundane but they are vital for understanding the difference in how the EU and Britain view the purpose of the coming months. Barnier’s title is solemn and serious; Frost’s is somewhat irreverent.

In the European Commission’s corridors there is an addiction to ‘taskforces’. It signifies military decisiveness.