So May has been embroiled in negotiations with the EU in which the EU is taking a punitive line. As if the British have lost a world war and must pay reparations, in spite of having been a net contributor to the EU for years.
Someone is going to need to explain to me how you end up with a liability in these circumstances. If Britain owes a liability, then so does everyone else in the EU. So where is our share of those assets?
Not unnaturally, this strategy looks like delivering no sort of sensible deal.
And now the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, is asking May to deliver a sunnier message about the prospects for the UK if it walks away from negotiations and just gets on with being a sovereign country again.
As it happens, and as you read here, there probably is a decent pathway for the UK in its traditional role as a free trade nation with a strong financial market. One that the EU, if it is sensible, should value.
At a minimum, as a negotiating matter, May should point out to the EU that their approach isn't saleable and forces her towards the alternative.
Instead, May is shooting back at Johnson. Oy vey. She negotiates as if she is a vicar's daughter.
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