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Boris Johnson's negotiator David Frost told the EU in meetings last week that after No Deal the PM wants to negotiate a 'conventional' FTA with the bloc, not the beefed up tariff and quota free one offered by Brussels, to totally free the UK from EU law. thesun.co.uk/news/brexit/96…
This would be a bare bones FTA like the ones Canada and South Korea have, and would involve substantial barriers to UK-EU trade in return for regulatory freedom. It is a clear departure from Theresa May's approach and her Chequers plan, much of which made it into the backstop.
It's a clear signal about the planned future direction of the UK, which the EU has long feared will start a regulatory race to the bottom. That's why its offer was 'a balanced, ambitious and wide-ranging FTA insofar as there are sufficient guarantees for a level playing field'.
A reminder of what the Level Playing Field is and why the EU wants it so badly from the EUCO guidelines on the future relationship of March 2018. The EU won't want to do a deal without one, but can it realistically refuse to grant the UK something it has given to other countries? 
Of course, a basic FTA won't solve the Irish border unless workable Alternative Arrangements emerge - that's the UK's plan but the EU is unconvinced. And the EU's position is that after No Deal it won't open any trade talks until all the major withdrawal issues have been agreed.
So we can see a future where PM Johnson goes for No Deal (possibly after an election) then comes to Brussels and asks for an FTA plus AA. The EU says no. Then we're in another Brexican stand-off to see who blinks first. No Deal is a starting point only, not a final destination.
