Friday, May 7, 2021

Michel Barnier’s tell-it-all diary on the Brexit negotiations

The Irish Times yesterday carried a report on Michel Barnier’s The Great Illusion: a secret Brexit diary (2016 - 2020).

The 500-page diary was published in French yesterday and an English version of the book will be available in October.

Throughout the book Barnier expressed his bewilderment with the British approach to the talks.

He talks about Dominic Raab as having ‘a messianic glint in his eye’.

He sees Theresa May as a courageous woman surrounded by men putting their own interests before those of their country.

Barnier did not trust David Frost, the British negotiator, nor did he admire his negotiating skills. 

Indeed, he told the British negotiators that their technique was a farce.

He admitted that Johnon’s indifference to the truth complicated the negotiations.

Barnier describes Leo Varadker as ‘courageous’ and praises him for the role he took in the abortion rights referendum.

The book is published by Gallimard.

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