The question was rhetorical, as you know. Tories have always been adept at fighting symbolic battles which serve to united the populace behind their leadership. It is even more necessary now as class divisions become more obvious. Boris is a past master at a "dead cat" strategy which focuses attention away from where they don't want it to be.

What the Brexiteers may not have factored into their calculations is that the French can play this game too. The EU, which has traditionally eschewed such childish behaviour could also do with some distractions from other issues - Poland, Hungary, Covid, climate change, immigration - and, without Merkel, has lost a lot of its authority.

I suspect there are some very itchy trigger fingers in Paris and Brussels just waiting for Frost to fire the first shot by triggering A. 16. "Proportional retaliation" will go out the window as Britain will hardly take the EU to the ECJ to test proportionality.

Frost and the DUP have been playing with fire and don't seem to realise how precarious their position is right now. The DUP have always over-played their hand but Frost is a pale imitation of past British masters of the genre, who always knew when they game was up and it was time to pull back.

Index of Frank's Diaries