Quote Originally Posted by Oracle View Post
A good negotiator understands how far you can push. There is a difference between hard negotiation and alienating the other party, so offering no reason to accept the deal,just as EU have done. Barnier should resign as a total failure.
I have posted on this before but to reprise;

1. A good negotiator keeps his agenda (what he really wants and what he will settle for - which are not the same as the public posturing) secret and never reveals it (because there might be a next time).

2. This negotiation is still ongoing and it is only after the dust has settled that the outcome can be evaluated against 2. by the players - who will then put the best "spin" on the outcome for public consumption.

3. There are other aspects such as how much skin you have in the game to concentrate the mind (your own job, money or in some regimes, your life) - but I think Theresa May has already discounted those issues.