WAS it a mere coincidence that as Theresa May suffered yet more internal flak from her Tory Brexiteer comrades, Michel Barnier popped up with some soothing continental balm.

It might just make one think that there really is, as one EU diplomat put it, an Operation Save Theresa going on in Brussels.

One can only imagine the dread that Jean Claude Juncker, the European Commission President, holds at the prospect of bonking Boris Johnson leading a Brexit Britain.

Of course, it was only last month that the EU’s chief negotiator raised the Prime Minister’s heartbeat when he declared out of the blue: "We are prepared to offer Britain a partnership such as there never has been with any other third country."

UK ministers ran to the microphones to insist that, finally, Brussels had come round to offering that famous bespoke deal that Mrs May had spoken of when she took over in No 10.

But the French champagne had barely lost its fizz when Mr Barnier issued a new statement, insisting he was “strongly opposed” to her Chequers Plan and that, if it were implemented, it would spell the end of the European Project as we knew it.

So what on earth is going on? It seems that the EU27, most notably Germany’s Angela Merkel and Frances’ Emmanuel Macron, do want a deal. The prospect of no-deal is too messy to contemplate.

It is perhaps no diplomatic coincidence that this week Mrs May will not-so-gently remind Brussels that Britain is preparing very seriously for walking away with all that lovely £39 billion stuffed in its back pocket unless the EU27 comes round.

The PM will chair a special three-hour no-deal Cabinet just before it is expected Whitehall churns out yet another 20-plus papers of what to do in the event of “Brussels intransigence” blocking a deal.

Last week, Chancellor Philip Hammond was in Vienna talking up how the UK was putting intense pressure on EU leaders to get Mr Barnier to ease up on his strict negotiating stance. We have compromised, says the UK, now it’s your turn.

The crunch will come perhaps on September 20 when Mrs May travels to Salzburg for an informal EU summit to talk over dinner of how flexibility is the key to an historic deal.

There has been repeated talk that Mrs Merkel and Mr Macron are willing to move and in the run-up to the European Council on October 18/19 clear signs will be given. The deal will be signed at a special gathering in early November. That’s the hope.

Yet for all the upbeat tone, when pressed, EU leaders adopt a granite-like insistence that they will not compromise on the basic pillars of the EU. The Northern Irish border and the Chequers Plan’s customs proposals remain the key stumbling block.

Perhaps as Brussels blows hot then cold then hot again we might get some clarity tomorrow when the top Eurocrat, Mr Juncker himself, gives his State of the Union address.

The whiff of classic Belgian fudge might begin to emerge.