We’re creating a country called UKNI
Boris in North to stir up DUP support as EU smooths way for Brexit deal
BORIS Johnson made a barnstorming effort to stir up like-minded DUP members at their party conference yesterday, comparing Theresa May’s Brexit plans to the sinking of the Titanic and even renewing calls for a bridge to Scotland, bringing the North closer to Britain.
The boisterous former British foreign secretary declared: ‘Unless we junk this backstop, we will find that Brussels has got us exactly where they want us – a satellite state.’
And while he was speaking to a Northern Ireland audience, his speech was very much aimed at the British voters and Westminster MPs, who are preparing to vote on the deal that is being finalised in Brussels today.
Littered with pithy phrases, and clever oneliners, Mr Johnson’s speech to the DUP ramped up the fever pitch rhetoric – it included a number of anti-IRA references as well as a stirring call to arms against interference from Brussels. However, the response from the Government in Dublin was dismissive.
The Taoiseach’s spokesman said Leo Varadkar was focused on today’s European Council meeting in Brussels, while, in an indication of Mr Johnson’s declining relevance, Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan said his words ‘appeared to carry the weight of a conference warm-up. Much of it shouldn’t be taken too seriously. It is strong on showmanship and little else’.
Mr Johnson, who resigned from Mrs May’s Cabinet over Brexit proposals, warned DUP delegates: ‘If we are not careful, we are going to stay in the Customs Union. We are going to stay in the Single Market. We are going to be rule takers.’ He suggested Britain should: junk the backstop that secures an open border in Ireland, and deal with it during future negotiations; agree in principle to a Canada-style Brexit deal; and withhold half of the £39billion divorce settlement payment until a free trade agreement is signed off at the end of 2020.
However, he did not say why the EU would agree to all these proposals. Instead, he argued: ‘We need a secretary of state for no deal on WTO terms, with real powers across Whitehall to make things happen.
‘I do not believe that we will exit without a deal – that is totally unnecessary – but it is only responsible of government to make the proper preparations’.
And to those in Britain and the North who are alarmed at what Brexit might bring, he said: ‘We need urgently to recover our confidence and our self-belief, and to stop treating Brexit as if it were a plague of frogs or a murrain on our cattle or some adverse weather event that had to be managed.’
The speech was entertaining, complete with references to bendy buses, Star Wars’ light sabres and lyrics from Van Morrison songs – and it raised a number of laughs.
While, Mrs May appeared to have overcome the final obstacles in Brussels, as Spain dropped its threat to boycott today’s summit over Gibraltar, Mr Johnson made no effort to heal the divisions in the Tory party over Brexit, or the emerging divisions between the DUP and the Tory leadership.
Arlene Foster and her party, which props up the Tory government, have made it clear they oppose the deal that Mrs May and Brussels have struck, particularly the provisions to maintain a soft border.
Ms Foster confirmed the opposition in her address to delegates.
Appealing to the DUP directly, Mr Johnson said: ‘And so to our allies in the DUP, I hope that you agree that it is absolutely vital that we keep this partnership going and that we are not so complacent as to abandon the government of this country to a man whose avowed policy is to break up this country.
‘And we should work together to ensure that the whole UK – Northern Ireland included – can seize the opportunities of Brexit.’
He said that if the backstop remains, Britain will continue to take direction from Brussels.
‘We will continue to accept the terms under which they have a surplus in trade in goods with us of £95billion, but with no power to influence those terms,’ he said.
‘We won’t be able to do free trade deals of any value or significance because they have done a very clever trick,’ added Mr Johnson.
‘They have made Northern Ireland their indispensable bargaining chip in the next round of negotiations.’
He said Britain and the North will continue to be run from Brussels.
‘Indeed if you read the Withdrawal Agreement you can see that we are
‘Junk the backstop or UK will be a satellite state ’
witnessing the birth of a new country called UKNI.
‘UKNI is no longer exclusively ruled by London or Stormont. UKNI is in large part to be ruled by Brussels. And UKNI will have to accept large swathes of EU regulations now and in the future,’ he said.
Mr Johnson was once a Brussels correspondent for a British newspaper and he made his name writing stories about the inflexibility of the Brussels bureaucracy and its tendency to issue ludicrous edicts.
He referred to some of these in his speech.
Developing his point, he added that they had even issued instructions on ‘the use of personal recreational watercraft’.
He added: ‘And nowhere has a more illustrious history than Northern Ireland when it comes to the creation of recreational watercraft. The Titanic springs to mind.
‘And now is the time to point out the iceberg ahead. Because these obligations won’t just apply to current EU regulations, but anything that Brussels devises in the future.’
Mr Johnson revived an idea he has floated in the past – a bridge between the North and Britain.
‘And now is the time to progress the admirable suggestions of Professor Alan Dunlop of Liverpool University,’ he said.
‘And develop plans for a bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland, as you in the DUP have correctly been urging. It is a far shorter distance than that covered by some bridges these days, look at Shanghai to Ningbo.’
Geological barriers have been cited, however, he said: ‘The problem is not the undersea Beaufort’s dyke or lack of funds. The problem is political will – and we need strong regional government to drive such projects.
‘And I therefore hope that Stormont can be revived as fast as possible as a champion of investment in Northern Ireland.’
Mr Johnson praised the ability of the DUP to secure funds from the British government.
Significant funding was agreed when they backed the Tory party after the last British general election failed to provide a one-party government.
‘No one can doubt the effectiveness of the DUP in appealing for investment from the Treasury; as a former mayor, I like your style but there is even more to be done and if we continue to make those investments throughout the country then that will build the platform that business needs.
‘And if we get the right Brexit deal that gives us real freedom to trade and to innovate as a whole UK then we can turbocharge the areas in which this country already leads Europe if not the world,’ he added.