Henry Hill: Frost secures a stay of execution for British trade with Northern Ireland, but no sign of a pardon yet

An agreement to extend grace periods would avoid the Government having to do so unilaterally, as it did previously.

Henry Hill: Frost’s appointment shows the Government is not resigned to the Northern Ireland Protocol

His extension of grace periods only makes sense as part of a strategy aimed at securing meaningful concessions to assuage unionist concerns.

Henry Hill: It is past time the Government worked out a British interpretation of the Belfast Agreement

Both the Prime Minister and his predecessor have failed to challenge the green-tinted vision of the treaty offered up by Dublin and its outriders.

WATCH: Coveney – Claim that EU would blockade UK shipments to Ulster ‘inflammatory language’

The Irish foreign minister attacks the language deployed by Downing Street as “spin, and not the truth”, speaking instead of ‘limited checks’.

Graham Gudgin: Has Johnson kept his promises on Northern Ireland?

The Prime Minister has avoided some of the potential dangers, but nonetheless introduced a border inside the United Kingdom.

Why it’s too soon to pronounce on the number of people who’ve died in Britain of the Coronavirus

The effectiveness of such Government strategies as the lockdown can only be assessed after a mass of variables are controlled for.

Andrea Leadsom: The legacy that I’ve left my successor at the Business Department

Our priorities were: tackling global climate change, solving Grand Challenges and making the UK the best place in the world to work and to grow a business.

Jonathan Caine: It’s time for Sinn Fein to act decisively and leave the IRA behind

It’s deeply disturbing for many that a modern European democracy might shortly be led by a party that continues to have its strategy overseen by an Army Council.

Stephen Booth: Checks in the Irish Sea. What they are, why the UK and EU disgree about them – and how they could wreck the talks

For the Protocol to work over the long-term, broad-based political consent for it must be gained then retained.

Smith’s dismissal is Johnson’s second chance to take the Union with Northern Ireland seriously

Grasping this nettle will involve appointing someone prepared to be considerably less popular with sections of the gallery than was their predecessor.

Garvan Walshe: Sinn Fein say they want to reassure Unionists. Good luck with that.

As long as their activists call them “colonialists” and candidates glorify the IRA, the idea is as convincing as a Hannukah greeting from Jeremy Corbyn.

David Shiels: An anti-DUP pact within an anti-Brexit pact is shaping Northern Ireland’s election

The second piece in our new mini-series looks at the strange bedfellows and hard choices for unionists, nationalists, Leavers and Remainers alike.

WATCH: Varadkar hails “good agreement”

The Taoiseach adds that the deal finalised today “creates a unique solution for Northern Ireland”.

Stephen Booth: Step by painful step, both sides creep close to agreement over Northern Ireland

There might not be time, but it at least now appears that a UK-EU deal on Brexit is conceivable.

Johnson and Varadkar ‘agreed they could see a pathway to a possible deal’ – official statement

The Prime Minister and Taoiseach met today to try to break the deadlock over the Northern Irish backstop.