What are the most important deadlines in the Brexit calendar?

The clock is ticking for Boris Johnson – in fact, there are more than one of them, writes Ashley Cowburn. But which matter and which don’t?

The prime minister at a roundtable with service chiefs at Downing Street yesterday (Getty)

Throughout the Brexit negotiations, “the clock is ticking” has been a phrase employed by EU officials countless times – most recently by Luxembourg’s prime minister on Monday as he pointed to the empty podium where Boris Johnson was supposed to be standing. But there have also been various “deadlines” floating around. Here are the most critical in the coming weeks:

The 30-day challenge – 20 September

During one of Johnson’s first foreign visits, Angela Merkel suggested a solution to the Brexit impasse “in the next 30 days”. The prime minister immediately took the remark as a challenge, responding: “You have set a very blistering timetable of 30 days – if I understood you correctly, I am more than happy with that.”