Useful reminder from this morning's playbook on why this government has always previously backed down on threats over Northern Ireland and will probably do so again - the prospect of a trade war with the EU goes down very badly with international investors. 
The negotiation that matters with regard to UK-EU relations (in the past, now, and possibly for some time to come) is between sovereignty purists and those in conservative party and wider business community who realise the UK needs the huge market on our doorstep.
The sovereignty purists are backed by the media and obviously delivered Number 10 for Boris Johnson. But ultimately their economic views that the UK doesn't need to trade with neighbours are not ones that a government concerned about the economy can let run.
Also why the UK style of negotiation through threats hasn't worked - they aren't particularly credible or painful to the other side. We end up with worse deals which the government pretends are great.
And the US political establishment remains, largely, firmly on the side of Ireland, and of the UK not breaching the Northern Ireland protocol (as well as rebuilding ties with the EU). nytimes.com/2021/10/18/wor…
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