Boris Johnson Thinks He’s in Control
It’s just after 9:30 p.m., and Boris Johnson’s chief of staff, Edward Lister, is finally sitting down for dinner with a colleague in the corner of Mr. Cooper’s Restaurant and Bar in Manchester’s Midland Hotel. The next day is make or break time: Johnson will unveil his new Brexit plan, which the prime minister hopes will fire the starting gun on a frenetic two-week sprint to reach an agreement with the European Union on the terms of Britain’s withdrawal. If he fails, he is almost certain to miss his own “do or die” deadline to take Britain out of the bloc by October 31.
Lister, 70, is an unassuming figure, besuited, gray-haired, respectable, like the head of a medium-size business. One of Johnson’s most trusted advisers from his time as London mayor, Lister is a stark contrast to the other central figure in Johnson’s administration, Dominic Cummings, an anarchic force of nature consumed by Brexit. Ultimately, Lister’s role in the Brexit negotiations is more atmospheric than pivotal: Cummings is the driving force inside 10 Downing Street, whereas the intellectual energy on Brexit is created by David Frost and Oliver Lewis, the two officials tasked with working up detailed plans for a possible agreement and the prospect of “no deal,” respectively.
Yet nothing could happen without a diplomatic breakthrough forced by Johnson—and Lister’s role, as the Conservative leader’s personal emissary, is to help protect a key back channel with Ireland that the prime minister has opened up. This tenuous line of communication between London and Dublin is helping to keep the flickering chances of a Brexit deal alive amid the gale-force political winds of Westminster. Lister had been dispatched to Dublin earlier that day, October 1, on a courtesy mission. The following day, Johnson would deliver a set-piece speech to Conservative Party activists and publish his long-awaited Brexit plan soon after. Lister visited Dublin with one goal: Keep the window open for a deal. It was crucial the Irish not kill Johnson’s hopes with their reaction.
This encounter and other one-to-one meetings between the
