AHERN’S BLAST TO BRITISH
In a blistering broadside, the former Taoiseach thunders: Theresa May is ‘a lady totally out of her depth’+++ Jeremy Corbyn is ‘bonkers’ +++ Boris Johnson is a ‘headbanger’
BRITISH Prime Minister Theresa May was described as ‘out of her depth’ by former taoiseach Bertie Ahern, who said she looks like she wants ‘out’ of her job. The scathing assessment was one of a number he made of the top echelons of British politics. The former Fianna Fáil leader also described British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as ‘bonkers’ and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and his Brexiteer brethren as ‘headbangers’. His comments have emerged on the eve of a key meeting in Brussels where Mrs May must outline her proposals for the border
before Brexit negotiations can be allowed to continue.
Speaking in Dublin last weekend Mr Ahern said of the British: ‘They’re beginning to realise that they made an enormous mistake.’
According to an audio recording obtained by the Irish Mail on Sunday, he says: ‘They have a weak Prime Minister who is only there because the other headbangers who were on the Brexit side were fighting each other at the time. She came up the middle.
‘I feel sorry for her because she is a lady totally out of her depth, and I’d say she wakes up every morning saying, “Maybe I’ll be out of this [her job] tonight.” That’s the way she looks.’
Mr Ahern was speaking at an event titled A United People – A Divided Island? which covered current affairs in Northern Ireland and all issues relating to Brexit.
The event in Tailor’s Hall in the city centre, moderated by RTÉ radio’s Marian Finucane, was part of a week-long series at the inaugural Festival of Politics, organised by the Temple Bar Company.
He was scathing in his assessment of British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. ‘And you’ve Corbyn, let’s be honest, Corbyn is beginning to look good,’ he says.
‘In my Department of Labour days… when I was at conferences… the only thing he ever said that I thought was sensible was that there were good teams that played in English football. Most of the rest of the stuff he said is bonkers.
‘Now he’s beginning to look like he may be the next Prime Minister.’
During the course of the hour-long discussion Mr Ahern also criticises and ridicules chief Brexiteer Boris Johnson. When he refers to those politicians who campaigned for Brexit as ‘headbangers’ it is clear he is referring to Mr Johnson.
When he implies the UK electorate are mad to consider Mr Corbyn as a Prime Minister he takes another potshot at Mr Johnson.
‘Or if they [the British] totally go mad it might be Boris [Johnson], and then I’m getting out,’ he says.
He also criticises farmers: ‘They reckon about half the Northern Irish farmers voted to leave. And 80% of their money comes from Europe. Maybe it was just a bad day … but what a stupid decision.’
Mr Ahern has appeared at several talks on Brexit, and like many respected commentators in Britain and Europe he disbelieves many of the facts put forward by Brexit supporters. Mr Johnson and others believe Britain will do better by striking independent trade deals with countries outside the EU. He rubbishes that idea ‘that we [Britain] will get most of the new markets around the world’.
‘The difficulty, most of those countries around the world, Australia, Canada, Japan already have trade deals with the EU. So they’re not going to give a better deal to a country of 70 million [sic] as against a bloc of 440 million,’ he says.
He says Britain has ‘zero chance’ of making up for lost EU trade ‘and that is why sterling is weakening… that’s why investment is falling. They have cut their growth rates’.
As a three-term taoiseach, and a key negotiator of the Good Friday Agreement, Mr Ahern’s views are respected in Britain. However his statements will be akin to a hand grenade thrown into the tense negotiations being conducted on the Irish border.
Theresa May meets EU Brexit Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker tomorrow ahead of her meeting with EU Council President Donald Tusk.
Recommendations from those meetings will be discussed and agreed at the EU leaders’ summit on December 14 and 15 – the deadline for phase one talks on Brexit.
Meanwhile, a senior minister here warns of the lack of an agreed border position : ‘As of now there is no clear solution on the table.’
But Mr Varadkar is confident and said his first key objective is to ‘get a written agreement to keep the Common Travel Area and all the associated rights’.
Another priority is ‘to secure a written commitment to avoid a hard border through a new EU UK Free Trade Area’. This could be secured ‘by the North applying the rules of the Customs Union and internal market as a fallback’.
But Cabinet concern is high over the fallout of a hard border and the deteriorating relationship with the DUP. One minster said Simon Coveney’s recent declaration that he hoped to see a united Ireland in his political lifetime ‘has set the DUP mad. Simon was repeating Leo’s views, but Leo had the sense to say his in private. Simon has set a lot of groundwork by Leo at naught.’
‘I feel sorry for Theresa May’