My Secret Brexit Diary (eBook)

Michel Barnier was the chief Brexit negotiator for the European Union and head of the European Commission's Task Force for Relations with the United Kingdom.

List of Illustrations

The Main Players

A Warning

Origins of the Referendum

Diary

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

A Second Negotiation

2021

Acknowledgements

Glossary

Chronology

Abbreviations

Index

"There is admiration for Britain in Barnier's Secret Brexit Diary, a blow-by-blow account of the marathon dance that he performed with a succession of British ministers and two prime ministers, all of whose behaviour he found exasperating."
The Times

"Michel Barnier's new book helps explain why Britain ended up being comprehensively out-negotiated over Brexit and saddled with a flawed withdrawal agreement and a deeply disadvantageous future relationship, both of which will cause us major problems for decades to come. This is therefore an important account."
Jonathan Powell, The Guardian

"Michel Barnier, who is one of the most experienced and intelligent leaders in the world, played a hugely significant role in the Brexit process and this book provides a lively and compelling account of it, drawing on his unique perspective. Anyone with a serious interest in understanding the terms of the UK's departure from the European Union will benefit from reading it."
Tony Blair

"Michel Barnier, an Anglophile and natural team-player, is methodical, loyal, steady, above all honest. So his Brexit diary is disconcerting: it seems we really were as ill-prepared and inconsistent as observers suspected. His accounts of the posturing of Davis and Raab, and his discovery that he couldn't trust Johnson and Frost, ring all too true. His is a sobering story of British self-harm."
Lord Kerr of Kinlochard

"For historians writing about the UK's long and painful exit from the European Union, Michel Barnier's account is essential reading. For anyone interested in Brexit, it offers a valuable guide to the EU's negotiating strategy and the people who shaped it."
Jennifer Rankin, Brussels Correspondent, The Guardian

"If the treaties are the legal texts of the Brexit talks then this is the human version, revealing a Michel Barnier who is much warmer and far less diplomatic than his public persona. It's a masterclass in how the EU operates, and a rare glimpse into the tensions on their side."
Adam Fleming, Chief Political Correspondent, BBC News

"How did the European Union deal with the challenge of losing a leading member state? In this unique insider's account, the EU's chief negotiator reflects on the Brexit process, how it unfolded and how he managed the EU's approach to the talks. Required reading for everyone interested in figuring out what happened and why."
Anand Menon, Professor of European Politics at King's College, London, and author of Brexit and British Politics

"This book is required reading for anyone seriously interested in the exhausting saga of the Brexit negotiations, and it is good to have an English edition of what is undoubtedly an important historical document."
Robert Tombs, Professor Emeritus of French History at the University of Cambridge and author of The English and Their History

"This is a political thriller: 500 pages of twists and turns, advances and setbacks, taking place behind the scenes in an altogether extraordinary negotiation."
Nicolas Demorand, France Inter

"The former European chief negotiator has delivered his Brexit novel: a unique experience of four and a half years recounted day by day, in the theatre of the powerful with its noble aims and petty squabbles, its backtracking and its bluffs, its laughter and its tears, including very personal ones. And it's absolutely riveting."
Mathieu Laine, Les Échos

"An important account of how the EU comprehensively out-negotiated the UK."
The New Statesman