Boris Johnson needs help from Trump, but not too much

There is growing speculation that Mr Johnson is aiming for a general election, said Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, a research institute based in London, since his working parliamentary majority has dwindled to just one. But that presents other perils.

“If he is going into an election, he has to be very careful not to be seen as Trump’s poodle,” he said. The opposition Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, is already trying to disparage Mr. Johnson as “Britain’s Trump.”

With an eye to that, Mr. Johnson might try to shift the blame for the Brexit impasse onto his European neighbors by painting them as obdurate, Mr. Grant said. The prime minister has also sought to blame domestic opponents of a no-deal Brexit for weakening his bargaining position in negotiations with the European Union, something he has called a “terrible collaboration.”