Boris Johnson's wish to pick fights with his old enemies risks making the UK a pariah
CNN
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his government have spent much of this week fighting with the EU and rowing with a European human rights court, all while playing down accusations that they are breaking international law and pandering to his party's base.
On Monday, Johnson's foreign secretary, Liz Truss, revealed the long-awaited Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, a piece of legislation that, if passed, would allow the British government to unilaterally override parts of the Brexit deal it agreed with the EU in 2019.
Two days later, the EU responded by launching legal proceedings against the UK over its failure to implement parts of the protocol to date, while Maroš Šefčovič, the European Commission vice-president, said that "there is no legal nor political justification whatsoever for unilaterally changing an international agreement ... let's call a spade a spade: this is illegal."