Michel Barnier - My Secret Brexit Diary

Shakespeare, King Lear

La Grande Illusion is a wonderful film by Jean Renoir, released in 1937. It is also the title of an essay by Norman Angell ( The Great Illusion: A Study of the Relation of Military Power in Nations to their Economic and Social Advantage ), published in 1910, in which the English author argued that, given the economic and financial bonds uniting the European nations with one another, war had become an impossibility. Although this prediction turned out to be wrong, in his book Angell clearly shows that war is a process of mutual depletion in which there is no winner.

1. The first lie of the Brexit campaign: in May 2016, Boris Johnson alleges that the £350 million per week relinquished by Brussels would be used to fund the NHS instead. © Darren Staples/Reuters

2. A hateful conflation from Nigel Farage in June 2016, which intentionally misattributes the cause of the flow of Middle Eastern refugees to freedom of movement within the EU. © Daniel Leal-Olivas/Stringer/Getty Images

3. Thyborøn, Denmark, 21 April 2017, a trip out to sea in minus 22 degrees Celsius, to listen to fishermen who work in British waters. © Henning Bagger/Denmark OUT/AFP/Getty Images

4. 12 May 2017, on the yellow line that divides Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, or the ‘invisible border’ between the EU and the UK. © Michel Barnier

5. With Brian Burgess, an Irish farmer, and his ‘European cows’, several metres from the Northern Irish border. © Michel Barnier

6. Patrick Blower, Telegraph , 19 June 2017. © Garland/Telegraph Media Group Limited 2021

7. My two deputies, Sabine Weyand and Stéphanie Riso, and I received David Davis, Tim Barrow and Olly Robbins on 17 July 2017 – they had left their papers behind! © Thierry Charlier/Reuters

8. At Berlaymont, seat of the European Commission, a convivial moment on my birthday with my whole team, 9 January 2018. © Michel Barnier

9. In May 2018, at the Derry/Londonderry Guildhall. A spontaneous discussion with Northern Irish school pupils. © Michel Barnier

10. For four years, we visited a new capital city each week in order to meet their nation’s government, the national parliament, trade unions or businesses. Here we are in Lisbon with Prime Minister Antonio Costa, 26 May 2018. © Michel Barnier

11. A frank and direct discussion with the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in his office in Parliament in Budapest, 4 June 2018. When it comes to Brexit, he always supported the EU. © Government of Hungary. Photographer: Balázs Szecsődi.

12. Ingram Pinn, Financial Times , 27 July 2018. © Financial Times

13. Christian Adams, Evening Standard , 4 March 2019. © Christian Adams/Evening Standard

14. Jean-Claude Juncker and I meet Theresa May in Strasbourg. Demanding negotiations don’t preclude courteous manners! © Alex Kraus/Bloomberg/Getty Images

15. Meeting of the Brexit Steering Group at the European Parliament, chaired by the Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt. European unity is founded on transparency and trust. © EU/Étienne Ansotte, 2019

16. Teatime! The role of Leo Varadkar, the Irish Taoiseach, was decisive throughout the negotiations. Photo taken 8 April 2019 in Dublin. © Charles McQuillan/Stringer/Getty Images

17. No one, not even Nigel Farage, ever convinced me of the added value of Brexit. Here we are in Strasbourg at the European Parliament, where we had many tussles during the plenary session. © EU/Étienne Ansotte, 2019

18. Andy Davey, Evening Standard , 16 September 2019. © Andy Davey/Evening Standard

19. 17 October 2019, in the early hours. After three years of effort, we had reached an agreement with Boris Johnson and his negotiator Stephen Barclay on the UK’s exit from the EU. © EU/Jacqueline Jacquemart, 2019

20. During this long journey, I felt the need to return to Savoie, my ‘homeland’ and the place where my roots lie. © Michel Barnier

21. 28 January 2020, with my two new deputies, Clara Martínez Alberola and Paulina Dejmek Hack. The task force takes up anew the reins of negotiation over our future relationship. © Michel Barnier

22. At the Élysée with Emmanuel Macron on 31 January 2020, the day of the UK’s exit from the EU. © Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images

23. Patrick Blower, Telegraph , 3 March 2020. © Garland/Telegraph Media Group Limited 2021

24. In Brussels on 29 June 2020. One of the official negotiation sessions between the British and the Europeans. © John Thys/AP/SIPA/Getty Images

25. Peter Brookes, The Times , 18 September 2020. © The Times/News Licensing

26. In Berlin on 12 October 2020, with Chancellor Angela Merkel. We were both environment ministers for our respective countries in 1994. In her words: ‘Europe’s future is more important than Brexit.’ © Bundesregierung/Steffen Kugler

27. In London, 27 October 2020. En route between our hotel and the conference centre where the negotiations were taking place; remaining anonymous was not easy. © Michel Barnier

28. In the basement of the conference centre in London, in the room we were assigned by the British. Our teams worked here, night and day, for weeks. © Michel Barnier

29. 10 December 2020, fifteen days away from a deal which at that point still seemed unlikely. PM Boris Johnson and David Frost were in Brussels for a business dinner with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. © EU/Etienne Ansotte, 2020

30. In the late hours of 23 December 2020, my adviser Matthieu Hébert and I prepare the speech for my last press conference. © Michel Barnier

31. Elena Mongiorgi, Lacrima Europa , January 2020. © Elena Mongiorgi

David Cameron– Prime Minister from May 2010 to July 2016. In January 2013 he committed himself to holding a referendum on his country’s membership of the EU.

Theresa May– Prime Minister from July 2016 to July 2019. It was under her leadership that the majority of the UK’s negotiations on the country’s withdrawal from the EU and the framework for a future relationship were conducted. However, the Withdrawal Agreement reached with her on 14 November 2018 was never ratified by the House of Commons.

Boris Johnson– Leading figure in the Brexit campaign and Prime Minister of the UK since July 2019. It was under his leadership that the final version of the Withdrawal Agreement and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement on the future relationship between the EU and the UK were agreed upon.

David Davis– Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union from July 2016 to July 2018. The first of four successive negotiators on the UK side. Resigned on 8 July 2018.

Dominic Raab– Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union from July to November 2018. The second UK Brexit negotiator. Resigned on 15 November 2018.

Steve Barclay– Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union from November 2018 to January 2020. The third UK Brexit negotiator. His post was abolished on 31 January 2020 when the UK left the EU.

Olly Robbins– Europe Adviser to Prime Minister Theresa May. The UK’s permanent negotiator and the EU team’s principal interlocutor throughout the negotiations on the UK’s withdrawal until Boris Johnson took over in July 2019.

David Frost– Europe Adviser to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, succeeding Olly Robbins in the role. On 31 January 2020, the day the UK left the EU, he was appointed head of the newly formed Task Force Europe, leading the UK’s negotiating team during discussions on the future relationship.