Boris ‘to attend’ DUP conference

Arch-Brexiteer crosses Irish Sea to stand with Foster in bid to build anti-draft text momentum

ARCH-Brexiteer Boris Johnson is set to attend the Democratic Unionist Party conference in Belfast this weekend, according to reports.

Former UK foreign secretary Mr Johnson is an ardent opponent of the draft withdrawal text on Brexit agreed between Britain and the EU last week, something he has in common with the DUP.

Relations between the DUP and the Tory party, which depends on the ten votes of Arlene Foster’s party in Westminster, have soured dramatically since the draft text was announced.

The DUP has vowed to vote against the deal if it is not renegotiated, firing warning shots in Westminster in recent days by voting against a finance bill.

The party’s deputy leader Nigel Dodds made clear the DUP was ready to continue voting against the British government and called on prime minister Theresa May to ditch her proposals and ‘work for a better deal’. Support: Boris Johnson

Mr Dodds said that the agreement with Conservatives committed the DUP to pursue the shared objectives of strengthening the Union and seeking a Brexit that benefits all parts of the UK.

While the DUP had ‘kept to our word’ on the agreement, the resignation of several Conservative ministers showed that Mrs May’s deal ‘does not represent those shared objectives’, he said.

The DUP will be boosted by the presence of Mr Johnson at Saturday’s conference at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Belfast, and he will no doubt rally behind the party’s opposition to the draft text.

The UK’s chancellor of the exchequer Philip Hammond is also expected to attend the conference, according to a report in the Impartial Reporter.

Professor Feargal Cochrane, a political analyst currently examining the impact of Brexit on the peace process, believes the DUP has left itself ‘badly exposed’ on this issue.

‘Outside of political unionism, a range of voices are lining up across civil society, notably from business leaders and the Ulster Farmers’ Union – traditionally an agricultural association with strong links to the unionist community – in support of the Withdrawal Agreement,’ he said.

‘The point is being made repeatedly to the DUP that the current deal is actually quite good for Northern Ireland and would avoid the need for a hard border in Ireland.’

Mrs May is to meet European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker for talks in Brussels today ahead of a special EU Brexit summit on Sunday.

Last week, senior figures in the European Research Group – a pro-Brexit Tory collective – were confidently predicting they would get the 48 letters of no confidence from MPs needed to trigger a vote on Mrs May’s leadership.

But with Brexiteers apparently divided over whether it was the right time to mount a challenge, the prospect of them achieving their target appeared to be dwindling.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Simon Coveney has vowed that there will be no renegotiation of the draft Brexit withdrawal text agreed by the EU and UK last week. Mr Coveney attended a summit of EU foreign ministers on Monday and said there was a unanimous agreement that the text would not be reopened.

That’s despite Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez threatening to vote against the deal if its provisions on Gibraltar are not altered.

Spain wants to be allowed to conduct negotiations on the future of Gibraltar bilaterally with the UK, rather than having them handled by the EU.

The withdrawal text will be debated in the Dáil today, but is unlikely to face a vote as it backed by all parties.

Party ‘badly exposed’