16:57

There’s a pretty bracing difference in tone between the prime minister’s words in person at Faslane this morning, and what his official spokesperson was telling reporters at a lobby briefing in Westminster at almost exactly the same time.



Asked about Dominic Raab’s suggestion that Johnson was ruling out re-opening negotiations unless he could ditch the backstop (see 9.14am), Boris Johnson said:

I believe in reaching out. I’ve already been talking to colleagues around the table in Brussels. I have absolutely no inhibitions about that. We are not going to be aloof or wait for our friends to come to us.

Yet in London, the tone was far less emollient, with his official spokesperson insisting the prime minister had made clear that he wanted to strike a deal, but there was no point in holding face-to-face talks unless the EU agreed to reopen the withdrawal agreement.