This meeting may be more important than Chequers. EU will probably accept a fudge on the future relationship that allows the Tories to remain unsplit until after next March (it will after all only be a pol declaration) but not will accept fudge on the Irish backstop (THREAD)
People forget the EU has always seen withdrawal and the future as separate negotiations. The Irish border is the bit they demanded certainty on. And in order to get progress to trade talks, the UK agreed to a backstop (albeit with internal contradictions in the text)
If all the UK can agree on future trade is a vague political document without guarantees, the EU can probably agree, but that obviously creates even more imperative for the Irish govt to demand a clear backstop. Which means the real potential blockers aren't ERG, but DUP...
The debate on the content of the WP is still highly inward and academic without an acknowledgment that the vast majority of it will now have to be negotiated after the UK has actually left the EU....
And (some people probably hope) when the DUP no longer holds the balance of power at Westminster.
