Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
BORIS LABELS IRISH STUPID OVER BREXIT
Foreign Minister is blasted after ‘tail wagging the dog’ comment
BORIS Johnson faced a backlash over his latest comments on the Irish border but escaped serious criticism from Theresa May and Leo Varadkar.
The Foreign Secretary was insulting towards the Irish position on Brexit while addressing the Thatcherite thinktank Conservative Way Forward.
Speaking in London on Wednesday night, he belittled the Government’s approach on the guaranteed backstop describing it as “a folly”, adding it was now a situation where “the tail is wagging the dog”.
He also said there was not that much business at risk were a border to return, even though there are in fact billions of pounds at stake.
The bungling Brexiteer added: “It’s so small and there are so few firms that actually use that border regularly, it’s just beyond belief that we’re allowing the tail to wag the dog in this way. We’re allowing the whole of our agenda to be dictated by this folly.”
Social media was outraged however, with many users branding him “Boris the Buffoon” and others lashing him for what could be considered anti-irish remarks.
Others still said his comments simply displayed his “ignorance” and “total unawareness” of the key issues at stake in Brexit. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar would not be drawn on Mr Johnson’s comments.
Asked about the remarks during a trip to Northern Ireland, he replied it was “not his business to get involved” in an internal UK Cabinet row.
A Downing Street spokeswoman also declined to comment directly on Mr Johnson’s comments.
She said: “Northern Ireland has been a priority for the Prime Minister from day one, and will continue to be so.
“It is a priority not because the EU has made it one, but because the PM is committed to the union and the emergence of a hard border would put that at risk.
“I’m not going to engage on the wording, but this is our position and why it is so vital to the PM.”
Asked if Mrs May still had full confidence in Boris Johnson, she replied: “Of course – the Prime Minister works with and listens to all her colleagues, and of course there is rigorous debate and you would expect that.”
ON IRISH BORDER DEBATE