Opinion

New prime minister will face limited options on Brexit

Boris Johnson's progress through the Tory leadership process has been remarkably smooth to date but if he beats Jeremy Hunt and gets the keys to Number 10 he will face enormous problems that will be anything but plain sailing.

Tories who believe that Mr Johnson will be able to step in and sort out the Brexit conundrum and somehow extricate the UK from the EU by October 31 without massive upheaval are ignoring reality.

If it was all that simple Brexit would already have happened on the date that was originally set, March 29, 2019.

Theresa May tried and failed to get the withdrawal deal she had negotiated with the EU through the House of Commons but was knocked back at every attempt and as we know was eventually pushed out by her own party.

Mr Johnson has been sniping from the sidelines, which is easy to do, particularly with such a weakened prime minister trying to hold together a bitterly divided and mutinous party.

But if he is to assume the Tory party leadership and the highest political job in Britain, the scrutiny will be all on him and how he plans to deal with the EU27.

Brussels is currently awaiting the outcome of the Conservative leadership contest but there is no sign of any willingness to renegotiate Mrs May's withdrawal deal.

Leo Varadkar appeared to rule out Mr Johnson's suggestion that the Irish backstop could be ditched and a solution found during the implementation period.

Speaking after a meeting with Michel Barnier, the taoiseach warned: ''There's no withdrawal agreement without a backstop and there's no implementation period without a withdrawal agreement.''

Mr Varadkar also said that while he has 'endless patience' there is enormous hostility among his EU colleagues in relation to any extension beyond October for further negotiations or indicative votes.

In fact, the window of opportunity for finding a way through this crisis before the October deadline is very narrow and, as the new prime minister will find out, the available options are extremely limited.