We're not talking about some Turkish bazaar haggle over a pound of potatoes here. The intelligence resources of the EU are to be taken seriously. The other party knows what your goals and options are. Maybe not every single detail, but the overall picture will be accurate, like it or not. Playing mysterious will fool no one but yourself.

If you come to a negotiation table without being able to state what you want, without any negotiation strategy, then you are basically just begging "please please please let me get through this without losing my face!" That can be arranged. I throw you a few worthless, shiny bones for your press, you can dance around them defiantly for a while, have your little victories, tell everybody what a strong negotiator you are. And then I tell you what your victories are going to cost you in the small print. If you accept, everybody can leave the negotiations with a smile.

If you intend to set the terms, to gain any kind of initiative at all, then you better know exactly what you want. And yes, this should be decided in public. If you haven't noticed it yet, the British populace has become highly polarized, social and ethnic tensions are on the rise, secessionists are gaining ground again. Breaking Britain apart becomes easier. Thin ice. Categorically refusing to integrate the British people into the decision process comes with an expensive risk.