'Stop letting grass grow under our feet!’ Boris Johnson demands EU unblocks Brexit talks

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BORIS Johnson today urged EU leaders to "get serious" over Brexit and unblock trade talks with Britain when they meet for a crunch summit later this week. The foreign secretary said European capitals should "put a tiger in the tank and stop letting the grass grow under out feet" if they want to reassure more than four millions British and EU citizens about theif futures. Arriving at a meeting of the bloc's foreign affairs council, at which ministers will discuss the Iran nuclear deal and the crisis in North Korea, Mr Johnson spoke about the "deep and special partnership" the UK wants with Brussels. And like his colleague David Davis he made a direct plea to EU leaders to loosen up the terms of Michel Barnier's stifling mandate, something the Frenchman himself has been asking for with increasing urgency. Mr Johnson arrived at the summit in Luxembourg following a diplomatic drive entertaining the foreign ministers of eight EU member states at his grace and favour country home Chevening yesterday evening.

He said: "Obviously we think in the UK that it’s time to get on with these negotiations, that it’s ready for the great ship to go down the slipway and onto the open sea and for us to start some serious conversations about the future and the new relationship, the deep and special partnership that we hope to construct that I think will work very much in the interests of both sides. "And people say to me 'we want to reassure the 3.2 million EU nationals in the UK and the one and a bit UK nationals in the EU' and so do we, and we’ve made a very good offer, we’ve made a very fair and you know we think it’s a reasonable point of view that we’re outlining. "Let’s give them that reassurance, let’s put a tiger in the tank, let’s get these conversations going and stop letting the grass grow under our feet. We hope very much that our friends and partners will take that message and really begin some serious negotiations." British negotiatiors increasingly see Mr Barnier and many of the smaller EU member states as their allies in a power struggle against France and in particular Germany - the two countries currently blocking the opening of trade talks

The EU Council at 27 is set to meet on Friday this week to discuss whether or not "sufficient progress" has been made in the ongoing divorce talks - and is universally expected to agree it has not been. However, in a clear olive branch to Britain draft guidelines for the summit's conclusion have been drawn up to include a commitment that the EU will begin "internal scoping" on a possible transition and trade deal before their next meeting in December. This most modest of concessions is thought to be widely approved of across the bloc but even it has run into trouble with hardliners Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel.

The German chancellor and French president are apparently trying to water the pledge down so that it does not provide any suggestion the club expects to open discussions on a future partnership this year.