Judging by the sighs of relief by some posters it appears to have worked.
The other theory doing the rounds by Jonathan Powell:
‘The real reason is political. Johnson/Cummings are trying to imitate Trump by changing the subject from the mess they have made of Coronavirus to a fight on Brexit, the only subject they can manage. And in the process they have put NI peace at risk and cratered our reputation.’
This ties is with trying to get Starmer to engage on Brexit yesterday at PMQ. ‘Brexit is in peril, we are fighting off the dastardly EU and the Remainer elite’ etc etc.
Except Starmer isn’t playing ball and the EU will sit at the negotiating table until hell freezes over. It’s why, I guess, they mention Gina Miller, as if she invented Parliamentary sovereignty or something, but it’s a useful flag to wave in front of people who then get all gleeful that we are putting one over on remainers because we are all five years old or something.