In the final few moments, at the end of a long dinner on the 13th floor of the European commission’s Berlaymont headquarters, Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen slipped away from their advisers and chief negotiators to talk alone in a corner of the room. It was a tête-à-tête between two leaders mindful of the historic nature of their discussions. Their conversation was intense, and notable for its apparent frankness; the body language made that clear to observers. The entire evening, as Von der Leyen would later tweet, had been “lively” – but this was not two politicians merely talking past each other. Both appeared to understand each other’s point of view, sources told the Guardian, and concluded it was worth “one last go” to reach a Brexit deal, even amid warnings of increasingly gloomy prospects. A Sunday deadline was set. Johnson had arrived in Brussels from RAF Northolt shortly after 6.30pm with his chief negotiator, David Frost, and Frost’s deputy, Oliver Lewis. Sir Tim Barrow, the outgoing British ambassador to the EU and a key figure in the negotiations, met the RAF Voyager as it touched down on the tarmac. The first port of call for their convoy was the ambassador’s residence on Rue Ducale, an early 19th-century terraced house overlooking the city’s Parc Royal, where Johnson and his advisers sat for an hour to discuss the evening to come. Armed with sheaves of papers detailing the outstanding issues in the negotiations, the four men made the short drive to the Berlaymont, escorted by the flashing blue lights and sirens of police motorcycle outriders. Johnson and his team were met by Von der Leyen and the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier. As the prime minister got out of his car, Von der Leyen ushered him in. “Allons-y,” she said – let’s go. Preparing for the official photographers, Johnson asked if they were taking off their masks for the cameras. “Yes,” Von der Leyen replied in English, but added: “Keep distance. Then … you have to put it back on immediately.” “You run a tight ship here, Ursula,” Johnson told her, “and quite right too.” The group were joined by Stéphanie Riso, a French economist and deputy head of Von der Leyen’s cabinet, who has been the commission president’s main link to the negotiating team, and Jens Flosdorff, a former journalist and longtime adviser. Initial conversations were stilted and a little uneasy but then they set about the problems ahead of them. After a short opening discussion, dinner was served in Von der Leyen’s private quarters, with everyone at a social distance. Barnier’s preference for fish – a stock over which the negotiators have quarrelled in the past – was respected. Downing Street would later say the meeting in Brussels had been “frank” – diplo-speak for heated. “Very large gaps remain between the two sides and it is still unclear whether these can be bridged,” a UK government source said. Von der Leyen tweeted: “We had a lively and interesting discussion on the state of play on outstanding issues. We understand each other’s positions. They remain far apart. The teams should immediately reconvene to try to resolve these issues.” EU sources counselled against those who read the statements as suggesting there had been rows or flared tempers. “The British press misinterpret us sometimes when we put things in English,” said one. “By lively, we mean it was not a dour conversation as if they were dug in their first world war trenches battling.” The source added: “They understand the politics – and they were talking in a way that was frank, you could see that.”
A UK official reiterated that there had been a refreshing candidness to the discussion, but no breakdown – and yet no deal either. “The prime minister made clear his determination not to leave any route to a fair deal untested, but emphasised that any agreement must respect the independence and sovereignty of the UK,” the source said. The British party left the Berlaymont at 11.10pm local time and went back to Rue Ducale. Sources said there was some despondency about the night’s discussions. Frost, Lewis and Barrow went off to a back room to pore over the developments. Nothing had been resolved, a source admitted. Neither side’s negotiators had received new instructions. But hope, at least in Brussels, was not lost. “It is about threading the eye of the needle,” one insider said. Not a deal or no deal at this stage but, even amid growing preparations for eventual failure, a final push. • This article was amended on 11 December 2020 to correct a reference to sheaves from sheaths.