Rishi Sunak is not out of the woods yet

The reaction to Rishi Sunak’s Protocol changes has so far been at the upper end of expectations in No. 10. It gets a thumbs up from the Fleet Street papers – including the still-influential Daily Mail which has tended to splash positive stories about Boris Johnson. It has received warm words from a raft of pro-Brexit grandees like Michael Howard, David Davis and Liam Fox. And crucially it has not attracted the ire which accompanied previous deals like the Chequers Agreement of 2018. Indeed, at the time of writing, no Conservative MP has publicly said that they will vote against it.

So far, so good. But, as those in No. 10 are all too aware, pitfalls still lie ahead in both Belfast and Westminster. There are mixed signals as to whether the DUP will support it.