As trade talks with the United Kingdom ground to deadlock on Dec 9, one European Union official summed up the mood in Brussels, writing in a memo: “The Brits ... are taking us for a ride, we must remain firm.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had just met for dinner in the Berlaymont building, the headquarters of the 27-nation EU’s executive in Brussels, and failed to resolve blockages on fisheries and competition policy.