Just when it looked like the UK would conclude its first major post-Brexit trade deal with Japan last week, it crumbled as the UK attempted to have its famous Stilton blue cheese included.

The ambition was to secure something that the EU didn’t have in its trade deal with Japan and largely symbolic as Japan doesn’t feature in the UK’s top 10 destinations outside the EU for dairy exports. The UK had hoped to roll over the terms of the EU deal when it leaves the transition at the end of the year but the Japanese insisted on a separate negotiation.