Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, was broadly briefed on the proposed agreement but had not seen the specific wording. She later torpedoed the negotiations with a statement warning against regulatory divergence Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker PressAs Theresa May arrived for her meetings with EU leaders in Brussels yesterday Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, took to Twitter to declare “tell me why I like Mondays!”It was a jokey reference to the Boomtown Rats song — written by an Irishman — that suggested everything was going to plan in the careful choreography to announce a breakthrough in Brexit talks. Mr Tusk referred to a phone call with Leo Varadkar during which the Irish prime minister had agreed to the draft text on Ireland along with Mrs May and Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president. Within hours, their hopes of a deal were in tatters. Leaks and vainglorious briefing destroyed the plan drawn up by Brussels, Britain and Ireland by…

Source: The Times December 05, 2017 00:00 UTC