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.

And I'm Colom O'Mongone, RTE's Deputy Foreign Editor in Dublin. Each week, Brexit Republic brings you all the latest developments in Dublin, Brussels and London.

In our first Brexit Republic of 2022, we should be reflecting on one year of full Brexit, but there's

just too much going on when it comes to Boris Johnson and his party gate convulsions.

We'll assess whether the man who promised to get Brexit done can cling to office and what it

might mean for getting a resolution to the Northern Ireland Protocol. And given that Liz

Trust, the new Brexit negotiator is seen as a frontrunner to replace Johnson, how heavily

will a leadership challenge

weigh on the protocol negotiations? And we'll also look at what impact Lord Frost's resignation

will have on the process and whether his successor will manage to finally do a deal on the Irish

sea border. But at first, I suppose, we should wish our listeners a happy new year. We would have

been back last week, were not for the fact that myself and my entire family were in.

The COVID leper colony with matching viruses, the COVID von Traps, as the amonggoans were for the period of the seven-day isolation.

Well, sorry to hear all that, but anyway, welcome to the club.

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