As a rule of thumb, if you hear anyone say that deep-state, unelected bureaucrats run the country, feel free to ignore them and continue about your day. But there is one exception: Northern Ireland. For the last two years, civil servants have effectively been running it in the absence of an Executive. That may finally be coming to an end.
This morning, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) announced it would return to power-sharing in Northern Ireland, subject to an agreement with the UK government on post-Brexit trade arrangements.
The DUP had set out seven tests for which it would measure its success in terms of allaying its objections, including no border in the Irish Sea and no new regulatory barriers between Northern Ireland and Great Britain unless agreed to by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Speaking on the BBC's Good Morning Ulster, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said the new deal included "zero checks, zero customs paperwork on goods moving within the United Kingdom." The question is, how can that be compatible with the Windsor Framework? The answer is, it almost certainly isn't.
When it comes to how to manage the UK's only land border with the EU, nothing has changed. You have a border in the Irish Sea (unacceptable to the DUP), a border on the island of Ireland (unacceptable to pretty much everyone and in contravention of the Good Friday Agreement) or the whole of the UK remains in the EU's customs union, also known as Theresa May's UK-wide backstop (unacceptable to the Conservative Party).
But it would be a delicious irony, wouldn't it? That the price for getting the DUP to sign up to power-sharing is that the European Research Group gets screwed and Rishi Sunak effectively concedes that the UK will not diverge from EU rules. I mean, as discussed in Friday's newsletter, we're not really diverging anyway, because the political and economic costs are too great. But the Tory right would go apoplectic at any such deal.
As for the DUP, there may be more base political calculations at play, not least the £3.3 billion that Chris Heaton-Harris, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, put on the table last December should the party return to Stormont. But I return to my earlier question – how can this deal (details of which are yet to be published) be in accordance with the Windsor Framework, even if the government says it is?
As for now, it is in the DUP's interests to hype up the deal, as the party faces being outflanked to its right. The reality is, there will always be some sort of checks. Heaton-Harris also appears keen to big it up, saying the agreement contains "significant changes".
But the UK government as a whole is treading something of a tightrope, knowing full well that the European Commission will look closely at the text to ensure it upholds both the Windsor Framework and the integrity of the EU's single market. There goes Brexit, acting like a process and not an event again.
In the comment pages, Matthew d'Ancona suggests business secretary Kemi Badenoch is playing a deft and long strategic game. Anna van Praagh says country life is so boring, no wonder people are moving back to London. While El Hunt calls the Grammys out of step with modern music.
And finally, as if it wasn't already difficult enough to book a table, the wonderful Les 2 Garcons in Crouch Hill is among the London restaurants to receive a Bib Gourmand from Michelin.
