Close-run Brexit talks underline political dilemma for UK

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s brinkmanship has brought UK-EU talks down to the wire and his choice boils down now to a barebones deal or serious economic disruption in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. Covid-19 has intervened directly in the fraught Brexit process, pausing the talks in Brussels when an EU negotiator tested positive, days after Johnson was himself forced to self-isolate after he came into contact with an infected MP. The…