It was as if nothing had happened. Michel Barnier would be jumping on a Eurostar to London early next week “to intensify these [Brexit] negotiations”, the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, tweeted on Friday. The EU intended “to focus on the negotiation and these negotiations will continue in the next few days”, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, told reporters in Brussels. An hour earlier, Boris Johnson, reading from a sheet of paper, had announced that following the publication of an uncompromising EU summit communique on Thursday, he had concluded that the UK should prepare for a no-deal outcome on 1 January. “The trade talks are over – the EU has effectively ended them, and we aren’t going to take part in a nonsense process,” a UK source said, filling in the gaps in the prime minister’s statement. “Only if the EU fundamentally changes position will it be worth talking.” But Brussels simply did not believe him. “What a load of nonsense”, said one EU official. “What was the point of that?” The reason for the EU’s disbelief is that Johnson had given himself plenty of wriggle room. “It was an invitation to continue to talk – it was very balanced, actually,” said a second senior EU official. In his statement, Johnson demanded that the EU’s chief negotiator come to London if he wanted to talk – 24 hours after Barnier had said in a press conference that he was coming to London for talks. Downing Street was demanding a new intensity in the talks; Barnier had already offered to speed up the process in his post-summit comments. As for Johnson’s insistence on a “fundamental” change in the EU’s negotiating position, that has naturally been the call from both sides from the start. During a two-hour discussion among the leaders on Thursday afternoon, flexibility had indeed been found. As they opened their talks, Charles Michel, the European council president, asked that the leaders’ tablets and mobile phones be secured in lockers to avoid any leaks, in a sign of the significance of that discussion. “Both sides have to take a step in the direction of the other party,” Merkel said on Friday after Johnson’s statement. “Leeway is there. There is room for compromise.” What, then, was the point of the prime minister’s statement? Johnson had said on 7 September that this summit was his deadline for an agreement and that without one, both sides at that stage would need to “move on”. He needed to sail past that deadline without undue embarrassment. It was also in his interest to renew his demand for a Canada-style deal in the confident knowledge that should a deal be finally secured, it will look similar. It will also be of little surprise to him that the EU negotiators were examining their levels of flexibility on the most contentious issues: fishing, governance of the deal, and the so-called level playing field provisions, including control of domestic subsidies. Johnson’s desire for some movement would be sated, although it may not be enough, A tub-thumping prime minister always plays well back home. Barnier has suggested there will be three more weeks of talks. UK sources suggest they see 12 November as being the actual deadline for a deal in order for leaders to sign it off when they meet a few days later. That will be a moment of significance. Johnson’s latest statement should join the pile of other meaningless prime-ministerial statements that have littered the Brexit process.