In all areas, the UK continues to backtrack.

The European Union argues that we should be subject to rules of the club that we have left.

The precondition is the level playing field.

We can deliver a real Brexit that achieves our objectives.

But if there is not a deal, we still need the Irish Protocol or the Northern Irish protocol fully implemented.

I'm going to miss being the pantomime villain.

Hello and welcome to Brexit Republic, RTE's podcast on Brexit.

I'm Tony Connolly, RTE's Europe editor in Brussels.

I'm Sean Wheelan, RTE's correspondent in London.

I'm Vincent Kearney, RTE's Northern Editor in Belfast. And I'm Colum Ongo Nungown, RTE's Deputy Foreign Editor in Dublin. Each week,

Brexit Republic brings you all the latest developments in Dublin, Brussels and London. This week,

political upheaval in London and Belfast, as Boris Johnson grimly holds on to power and the

DUP decide to walk away from power in Northern Ireland.

As one advisor after another departs Downing Street, we'll assess how much longer Boris Johnson can hold out

and what it means for the Northern Ireland Protocol Negotiations.

Speaking of which there's First Minister Paul Given's dramatic resignation, Edwin Puth's abortive attempt to haul checks at the Northern Irish ports and DUP leader Geoffrey Donaldson's threat to stay away from the executive.

We'll also look at Boris Johnson's effort to unleash the benefits of Brexit and how those benefits have not yet been felt in the UK manufacturing sector, Professor David Bailey of the University of Birmingham.

But first to the political turmoil in Northern Ireland. Yesterday, the First Minister Paul Given announced he was going to resign

amid his party's concerns over the implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol. Today, Geoffrey Donaldson,

the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party,

said his party would not re-enter an executive and work with Sinn Féin unless their concerns about

the Northern Ireland Protocol were addressed. Here's what he had to say to our Northern editor,

...