In normal circumstances, one could wonder how the U.K.’s embattled Prime Minister Boris Johnson could send two contradictory letters to European leaders at the same time—one asking for a delay to Brexit, the other asking for them to ignore his request.

The United Kingdom’s disorderly progress toward leaving the European Union, however, could rarely be described as “normal.”

Neil Hodge is a freelance business journalist and photographer based in Nottingham, United Kingdom. He writes on insurance and risk management, corporate governance, internal audit, compliance, and legal...