Johnson's objective is a majority in the Commons | Irish Times - Pat Leahy |

The prime minister is not talking to Dublin, he is not talking to Brussels. He is talking to the British electorate.

  Photograph: Jacob King/PA Wire

British prime minister Boris Johnson: he is hoping that in a general election his simple, clear Brexit message will win through in a fractured political landscape.

Boris is talking to British voters, not the EU. So now we know. Boris will not reach out to Dublin and Brussels, to Paris and Berlin, with a genuine and realistic desire to seek a deal. There will be no last-minute tweak to the backstop just substantial enough to get through the Commons, not so substantial that Leo Varadkar couldn't stand over it.

Nope. It's Boris the bullish no-dealer, not Boris the pragmatic centrist. Brexit Boris, not City Hall Boris.