The EU Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator is going to have a 'hell of a conversation' with the UK
Verhofstadt, who was also the former Belgian prime minister, said in a tweet that he was "Looking forward to a hell of a conversation with David Davis tomorrow :)" while attaching a link to a Telegraph article where Davis allegedly referred to him as "Satan:"
In the article Verhofstadt linked to Davis said "get thee behind me Satan" when the interviewer asked him what he thought about the EU's chief Brexit negotiator.
Since the publication of the Telegraph interview, Davis clarified that he was not referring to Verhofstadt as "Satan" but he was actually using a phrase to indicate to the interviewer that he would not be tempted in commenting on him personally.
Britain voted for a Brexit by a slim majority on June 23 and, since then, there has been much speculation on when the newly installed prime minister Theresa May will trigger Article 50 and start the official two-year negotiation process for Britain to leave the EU.
May said she will not give a "running commentary" on how negotiations are going but she has made it clear in various speeches that her government is prioritising immigration restrictions. This indicates that Britain is heading for a "hard Brexit" - leaving the EU without access to the Single Market - because various EU officials have repeatedly said that it would not allow the UK to curb immigration and keep membership the Single Market at the same time.
Verhofstadt himself said this in an interview with Business Insider, commenting that the deal Britain has discussed makes no sense.