Haven't most of the UK and EU commentators (and key politicians) said for months that substantive Article 50 negotiations are unlikely to start until October - when the French and German elections are all over and the dust has settled. That is one (possibly spurious) reason why the LibDems, Greens and anti-Corbyn Labour were arguing before Christmas for a delay in the Article 50 announcement - on the grounds that Theresa May will waste 6 months of precious negotiating time just to keep her backbenchers and the Daily Mail happy.
It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.