Flanagan: ‘Boris does not understand the North’

SOUTH of the border, reaction to Boris Johnson’s appearance at the DUP conference was chilly.

Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan told the MoS: ‘Boris clearly enjoys something of a celebrity status in the DUP, but he shows little understanding of the difficulties faced by Northern Ireland and even less desire to acquire an understanding of those.’

Commenting on the subdued atmosphere, Mr Flanagan said: ‘It appears clear to me the concerns of Ulster farmers and Ulster business are becoming influential. Ulster farmers are, in particular, right to be concerned, given that 87% of their income comes from Brussels.’

Fianna Fáil foreign affairs spokesman Niall Collins also questioned the weight of Johnson’s speech: ‘He almost comes across as a lost soul engaged in a midlife crisis where he imagines himself to be a latter-day Churchill.’ The difference, he said, ‘is that Churchill could accurately predict the future. Boris can not’.

Minister Finian McGrath was even more dismissive: ‘To borrow the phrase from Oscar Wilde on fox hunting, it resembled a case of the unspeakable chasing the inedible.’

One minister commenting strictly off the record noted: ‘Boris and the DUP is a bit like George Best turning out for Cork City in his declining years.’