Ursula von der Layen’s chief spokesman Eric Mamer took to the podium this morning trying to claim the EU’s attempted triggering of Article 16 on Friday evening, establishing a hard border in Ireland, was a “mistake”, saying “only the Pope is infallible”:

“Mistakes can happen along the way, the important thing is you recognise them early on – in this case so early that it was before the decision was finalised – and you correct them.”

Spinning the catastrophe as if it were an accidental oversight, rather than a schemed-out, deliberate political decision they didn’t realise would get unprecedented unified backlash from the UK and Ireland is impressive. Even more impressive is choosing a Pope-themed idiom when talking about Northern Irish politics…