The abuse became so bad that I felt the need to stop giving media interviews, writing articles and to remove myself from the public arena.
The first phase may have been the most fraught, but Johnson’s deal leaves lots to do – and many decisions to make – in the next stage.
The big prize will be that the UK’s economic and trade freedom will be restored, something May’s backstop would have prevented, potentially indefinitely.
This is Ireland’s deal as much as the UK’s. So the Taoiseach has an interest in assisting the Prime Minister over extension.
It is time for the Commons to stop telling us what it’s against and to show what it’s for, which ought to be: this deal.
If a UK-EU deal is agreed, it will be because both men want one urgently – which in turn opens a chance to reset Anglo-Irish relations.
We can begin to see how a deal can now be agreed and then pass Parliament. But the obstacles are still formidable.
The former Prime Minister also failed to grasp that Merkel was not going to do anything very much for him.
Even if the leaders on both sides soften somewhat, and workable ideas are forthcoming, the political incentives for the status quo are powerful.
Their words, like Johnson’s visit itself, look more like more gambits in a blame game than a genuine change of heart.
“It is not the core task of a German Chancellor to understand the relationship between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.”
The new Prime Minister will inherit the worst political legacy in living memory – with the very barest of working majorities.
The first in a ConservativeHome series of what the new Prime Minister must do in the month before Parliament returns in September.
Who are you voting for to run the EU Commission? Have you watched the debates and scrutinised their manifestos? Oh, wait.
He has a clear plan to leave the EU, and as a former Brexit Secretary I can say that it is credible and has my support.