Liz Truss hired two hard Brexiteers to drive through her plans to override the Northern Ireland Protocol as she vowed on Wednesday to resist EU pressure.
The Prime Minister appointed Chris Heaton-Harris and Steve Baker, both former chairmen of the European Research Group, to head up the Northern Ireland Office.
At her first PMQs, she pledged not to compromise on ripping up the Irish Sea border, which has enraged Unionists and led to the collapse of the Belfast assembly.
James Cleverly, the new Foreign Secretary who will take over responsibility for leading talks with the EU, is also a staunch Brexiteer.
"My preference is for a negotiated solution but it does have to deliver all the things we set out in the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill," the Prime Minister told the Commons.
"What we cannot allow is for this situation to drift, because my number one priority is protecting the supremacy of the Good Friday Agreement."
Mr Heaton-Harris, the new Northern Ireland Secretary, said he was committed to swiftly pressing ahead with legislation to end customs checks between Ulster and Great Britain.
But he also opened the door wide for a deal with the EU to "fix" the border problem, saying there was "a fairly obvious landing zone for the negotiations".
"It's so important that goods and services that are available in England, Scotland and Wales are fully available in Northern Ireland," he told MPs.
"The problems that the Protocol - probably inadvertently - has put in place mean that is not the case now and we do need to solve this issue."
His remarks came as the DUP urged Ms Truss to accelerate the passage of the Protocol Bill by changing when it is tabled in the Lords.
The legislation is not due to come back before peers until mid-October, after Parliament's three-week recess for the party conference season.
Ms Truss could decide to bring forward the second reading to before next Thursday when the House breaks up, The Telegraph understands.
"We would be delighted to see it expedited," a DUP source said.
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the party's leader, warned that Lords have "already started salivating in columns and tweets at the prospect of being able to delay and even derail the Bill".
"It would be better for Northern Ireland, and the entire United Kingdom, if the Protocol Bill can be moved forward as expeditiously as possible," he wrote on Conservative Home.
The DUP has said it will not return to the Stormont Assembly unless and until the legislation is passed in full, without any amendments from the Lords.
Anti-Brexit peers have threatened to tie up the law in "weeks and weeks of battle" threatening ministers' hopes to get it through by Christmas.
If a new executive is not formed by October 28 then the current caretaker government must be dissolved and a new election in Belfast called.
Mr Heaton-Harris could temporarily push back that deadline, but only if he could give concrete assurances that the impasse was about to end.
Micheal Martin, the Irish prime minister, welcomed the prospect of more talks on a deal and said the EU was "ready to be flexible and responsive".
He suggested the bloc is ready to shift further to solve "issues around the consumer sector", with the Protocol affecting supplies of some products from Great Britain.
"I take heart from the Prime Minister's comments that her preferred approach to the Protocol is to have it resolved by negotiation," he said.
"If the European Union and United Kingdom can engage in a process, we believe there is a pathway to resolving that particular issue."
A senior US congressman on Wednesday warned Ms Truss that Joe Biden had "serious" concerns about her approach to the Protocol.
Brendan Boyle, a Democrat member of the influential ways and means committee, suggested reneging on the treaty would embolden rogue governments such as Russia.
"Peace in Northern Ireland is a historic joint legacy of the US, the UK, Ireland and the EU," he told The Telegraph ahead of attending a meeting of the UK Trade and Business Commission on Thursday.
"It is vital that Liz Truss protects it by abandoning this Bill which will not only put a US/UK trade deal in deep freeze, but gives succour to law-breaking governments around the world."
Clair Hanna, from the Nationalist SDLP party, described the appointments as a "red flag when issues related to the Protocol remain politically sensitive".
The MP for South Belfast described the promotion of Mr Baker as "an obnoxious decision that will send a destructive message to the European Commission and to parties in Northern Ireland".
Senior EU diplomats have raised concerns that Ms Truss will be unable to compromise because she is "beholden to the hard Brexiteers" for her leadership victory.
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