Portrait of the week | 11 October 2018

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EU officials were suspiciously cheerful over the prospects of Brexit negotiations running up to the next summit on 18 October. ‘I think there is a chance to have an accord by the end of the year,’ said Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council. Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, did a little dance in humorous emulation of Theresa May’s dance moves the week before at the Conservative party conference. British ministers invented the concept of the ‘hybrid backstop’ for Northern Ireland, involving some more checks and an extension of the United Kingdom’s membership of the customs union. Crawford Falconer, the Department of International Trade’s chief trade negotiations adviser, told the Daily Telegraph that he would be redundant if the UK stayed in a customs union. Michel Barnier, the chief EU negotiator, had the pleasure of a visit from Arlene Foster, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party.