KEVAN FURBANK
THE rest of Europe watches aghast as the ruling party in the UK is torn apart by rabid rightwingers hellbent on grabbing power at the expense of the prosperity of the British people and their neighbours.
Theresa May has survived this particular challenge but the price is her promise to stand down before the next election. Surrounded as she is by backstabbers and hypocrites, one would have thought she can’t wait.
Mrs May is by no stretch of the imagination the best Prime Minister Britain has ever had. But look at the bunch of selfserving, talentless lightweights who have been lining up to replace her, daggers in hand. The frontrunner is that bewildered toff Boris Johnson, who has had a haircut to show what a serious challenger he is.
And look at Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour party – a fumbling bumbler with a wit that moves at the speed of a glacier.
They make Irish politicians look like Stephen Hawking.
Meanwhile, Britain seems to be falling apart. It’s in such an appalling state it has been slammed by the United Nations for its “staggering” levels of child poverty. I mean, some things may be bad in Ireland but at least a UN special rapporteur hasn’t accused Leo Varadkar of causing misery to one in five of the population.
Mrs May’s victory doesn’t mean her Brexit deal will now get an easy ride.
She will still be coming cap-in-hand to EU leaders, begging for a change to the backstop the rest of Europe knows is vital to protect jobs and peace on the island of Ireland.
Sadly, there are too many within the Tory party who are prepared to drag Northern Ireland back 40 years and countenance a return to
violence in order to “take back control”. We are also seeing a disturbing rise in a vicious anti-irish sentiment among British politicians who ought to know better.
As for the DUP, that disgraceful party is 1% principle and 99% mischief. It wants to rub Sinn Fein’s nose in it and sees Brexit as a way to tear up the Good Friday Agreement.
Let’s hope the good people of Northern Ireland know who’s to blame if a border goes up and the killings start again.
In the meantime, the Taoiseach and other EU leaders must stand firm. The British government may not care about the people who share this little island of ours but we do.
Mrs May has won in Westminster but she must not be allowed to walk all over us in Brussels.