When discussing the ratification of the Withdrawal Agreement and next stage of negotiation it is perhaps worth noting that there are two sides in a negotiation, and one of them is used to getting what it wants, as we just saw.
Little noted - if you drew up the almost perfect Brexit agreement from an EU point of view, it is the Withdrawal Agreement as agreed by Johnson and the ERG. They get the money with no conditionality, lose the Customs Union they never wanted as a UK demand, no Irish border etc
Getting Johnson and the ERG to dump the DUP and deliver a Northern Ireland frontstop not even a backstop, is an impressive negotiating achievement by the EU by any standards
The FT's @alanbeattie introduces his new Trade Secrets newsletter with a Brexit feature which agrees that it was the EU that got the result they wanted 
@alanbeattie And more on how the deal is no triumph at all for the UK - rather it reflects the poll that for Brexiteers in England and Wales Brexit is more important than maintaining the union ft.com/content/08ae76…
