Despite the almost comical elbow knocking greetings and the bonhomie there is a strong undercurrent of tension, animosity even, dividing some of the nations at the G7 summit in Cornwall.
Among those who do not see eye to eye with us are France and Germany, with, possibly, a large cohort of the EU nations.
The reason? Brexit. There are clearly two opposite views on the most contentious and difficult subject, the Northern Ireland ’protocol’.
After years of negotiation a deal was agreed only to be called into question after a few months. And it almost farcically centres on sausages, wurst in German, specifically their passage from Great Britain through Northern Ireland to Ireland and the EU countries.
French President Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and EU Commission President von der Leyen are the most vociferous in their allegation that the UK is reneging on a signed and sealed agreement. PM Johnson is aghast, alleging we are being bullied and threatened.
Diplomacy seems to have gone out of the window.
But it is very serious. Unless sanity is restored or, to put it more simply, one side backs down, future relations between the EU and the UK could be very rocky. And there is little doubt who would would come off the worst. The EU has the interests of its 27 member nations to consider, and a decision to hold the UK to the agreement would be serious. Not surprisingly, they may feel disappointed and annoyed with us, strengthening their resolve to hold fast. Having apparently solved the main Brexit problems It is sad that all this could be put at risk by a sausage. Or as one of our tabloid newspapers put it, Brexit goes from bad to wurst.
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