Fergus Finlay: Populism, as practised by Johnson and Trump, the worst and lowest forms of politics

Boris Johnson is torn between reason and unreason, between those who believe Britain will be damaged for years by no deal and those who believe sovereignty is the only thing that will set Britain free

Prime Minister Boris Johnson with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in Brussels as talks on a post-Brexit trade deal continue.

We’re lucky, I suppose, that Boris Johnson lacks the courage of his lack of conviction. Or maybe not. I wrote here last week that we’d know by now if there was going to be a deal. Well, we still don’t. And we’re all beginning to wonder, I imagine, if there’ll ever be one. Or if it will stick. Or be worth it in the end.

Europe is on the horns of a dilemma right now. It wants a trading agreement with the UK, because that’s in everyone’s interest. But it knows now, beyond any shadow of doubt, that it’s trying to make an agreement with a man and a government it doesn’t trust. Even if it gets over the line, the potential for unravelling is profound.