TORIES ’ANGER OVER CHARLES ‘EU SCHMOOZE’
Amid party turmoil over post-Brexit Ulster deal, PM is accused of using King to court Brussels powerbrokers
RISHI SUNAK has been accused of entangling the King in toxic Brexit politics by sending him on a controversial tour to ‘schmooze’ EU nations.
Charles’s visit to Berlin and Paris next month – his first overseas trip as monarch – is being seen as a charm offensive as the Prime Minister tries to renegotiate the Northern Ireland Protocol with Brussels.
But some senior Tories last night accused their leader of exploiting the Royal Family for his shortterm political ends, amid growing party infighting over the post-Brexit talks.
Some reports even suggested the proposed amendments to the protocol were at one stage going to be called the Windsor Agreement, which would have led to further claims that No10 was using the King’s name to advance its own aims.
The visit to the two European power-brokers – defying expectations Charles would follow tradition by ensuring his first regal visit was to a Commonwealth nation – comes after Buckingham Palace responded
to a diplomatic plea by the Government to bolster EU relations. Even the prospect of a visit is seen as a ‘softening-up’ exercise.
But leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg warned Mr Sunak against using the monarch for his ‘own transient political imperatives’.
One Brexit strategist said: ‘Dragging His Majesty into this is a major misstep by No10. Remainers always went insane when there was any suggestion of the Royal Family being involved in Brexit. Now it seems to suit them to send him on an EU schmooze.’
The new row follows the last-minute cancellation of a planned meeting between Charles and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen yesterday, just as the contentious talks between London and Brussels near their conclusion.
Such an unusual encounter – and at such a sensitive time – may have helped win over the Democratic Unionist Party, whose support is crucial if new trading arrangements are to be agreed. But it could have given the impression the King was giving his blessing to a controversial political issue.
The meeting – whose cancellation was put down to ‘operational reasons’ – would have been likely to raise questions about the judgment of both No10 and the Palace.
Last night, the Prime Minister insisted that the proposed deal with the EU would finally ‘get the job done’ on Brexit. Mr Sunak said:
‘His Majesty is the best diplomat the Government could deploy’
‘As someone who believes in Brexit, voted for Brexit, campaigned for Brexit, I want to demonstrate that Brexit works... and I want to get the job done.’
He played down fears that the deal would still leave Northern Ireland in the ‘orbit’ of Brussels, and that pressing ahead before securing the backing of the DUP and Tory Brexiteers could destabilise his Government. Mr Sunak said the deal ‘is not about third parties or anyone else. It’s about the people and communities of Northern Ireland. It’s about what’s best for them’.
Mr Sunak added: ‘I’m a Conservative, I’m a Brexiteer and I’m a unionist and anything that we do will tick all of those boxes, otherwise it wouldn’t make sense to me, let alone anyone else. I want to correct the democratic deficit because sovereignty is really important and that’s why the idea that the EU can impose laws on Northern Ireland without them having a say isn’t acceptable.’
It is understood that the proposed agreement will involve reducing the border checks between the UK mainland and Northern Ireland, and limiting the role of the European Court of Justice in resolving disputes. No10 sources told The Mail on Sunday that the EU had ‘gone way outside their comfort zone’ by agreeing to make changes to the protocol, having originally maintained that the treaty could not be renegotiated.
But Tory Brexiteers are sceptical about the talks, believing it is a mistake for the Prime Minister to scrap Boris Johnson’s Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, which would allow the UK unilaterally to change parts of the deal, in favour of direct negotiation with the EU.
The Brexiteers say No10 should have involved Mr Johnson in discussions about the negotiations. One said: ‘The Government has failed to engage and roll the pitch [prepare the ground] with Brexiteers. They should have engaged Boris and other senior Brexiteers on this weeks ago. No one will be surprised if their mishandling of this comes back to bite them.’
Last week, Mr Johnson warned Mr Sunak it would be a ‘great mistake’ to drop the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill.
Meanwhile, Royal insiders say the King and the Queen Consort are undertaking the European tour – which is also expected to include Bordeaux – for the sake of Northern Ireland. One said: ‘While the monarch is not overtly political, the King’s role is nevertheless to be the best diplomat the Government can deploy.’
But Mr Rees-Mogg cautioned against using the King as a political tool – and said Charles should have followed the example of his mother by visiting ‘his own realms’ in the Commonwealth first.
The former Cabinet Minister said: ‘Of course, the Government has a long-established and important role in advising the monarch on his major public engagements. However, it would be wrong if Downing Street has applied pressure on the King to make his first overseas visit on the basis of its own transient political imperatives.
‘Given the growth of republican sentiment [across the Commonwealth] His Majesty ought to go first to his own realms such as Australia, New Zealand or Canada.’
But a Royal source said: ‘Some might have expected the King to visit the Commonwealth first but of course he takes advice from the Government on which trips happen and when. This trip to Britain’s influential European neighbours is a chance for the King to do what the monarchy does so well – deploying soft diplomacy on behalf of the British Government.
‘There are reasons why now is a good time to look to our nearest allies as negotiations take place post-Brexit over Northern Ireland and the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues. His wish is to do his duty and serve the country by bringing people together.’
Another Royal insider said: ‘This trip is about Northern Ireland and the people there. The King has visited Northern Ireland every year for around 20 years and it is likely to be one of his first visits as King.
‘He will want to do whatever he can in a diplomatic capacity to protect the peace process, particularly as the [Royal] family was so greatly affected by the death of Mountbatten.’ Louis
‘It’s wrong to use the King for transient political aims’
Mountbatten – the King’s beloved great-uncle – was murdered by an IRA bomb in 1979.
Resolving post-Brexit trade rules between Northern Ireland and both the Irish Republic and the rest of the UK is seen as critical to releasing the political gridlock in the region and ensuring ongoing peace. A No 10 source said: ‘Credit to the EU – they’ve gone way outside their comfort zone and what was said to be impossible is close to being delivered – a treaty change in the best interest of Northern Ireland.’
Brussels is said to be ready to agree to UK proposals to introduce ‘red’ and ‘green’ lanes at Northern Irish ports. Goods intended for the province would go through the fastmoving ‘green lane’, with a higher scrutiny ‘red lane’ for goods travelling on to the Irish Republic and the EU single market. Under the proposals, London will also take over full control of issues such as VAT and state subsidies for the province which previously fell to Brussels.
However, Brexiteers questioned whether the proposals would truly allow manufacturers in Northern Ireland to deviate from EU regulations, and escape from Brussels’ influence, and demanded clarification over the extent to which London would be able to exert genuine control over issues such as VAT.
The King’s visits to Berlin and Paris are scheduled for the end of March. It is expected that he will make short visits to major Commonwealth countries later this year and a Government source said: ‘The King has been advised by the Royal Visits Committee to visit the Commonwealth as well as France and Germany.’
Meanwhile, other members of the Royal Family will be dispatched in an attempt to quell the increasing republican sentiment – including a major visit yet to be announced for the Prince and Princess of Wales.
Already this month, the Earl and Countess of Wessex have been in the Cayman Islands and Princess Anne has visited New Zealand.
AT THE point where Brexit and the Northern Irish peace process meet there is a sort of whirlpool of conflicting forces, like the one in the Gulf of Corryvreckan off Scotland’s west coast.
It is very hard to navigate, even for the brave and experienced. In 1998, the Good Friday peace agreement cunningly slipped past a number of dangerous issues by putting them off into the future or pretending they had been solved when they had not.
But the special arrangements for the province outside the EU, dreamed up to avoid a new clash with Dublin, revived these buried issues.
In fact, trying to sort out anything to do with Northern Ireland is like trying to triumph over a Rubik’s Cube, in the dark, underwater and with one hand tied behind your back.
Famously, the issue was what did for Theresa May and drove her from Downing Street. Equally famously, Boris Johnson, when he took over from her, believed that he had, by sheer boldness and force of personality, overcome it.
But France and Germany have been heavily engaged in seeking a new deal for months now. The EU is still discontented. And there are some in British politics who think that discontent should be soothed by revisiting the deal now.
As we see this weekend,
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has begun to find out just how tricky and complex the matter is. Perhaps he should have consulted Mr Johnson before plunging into it. The eleventhhour cancellation of a planned meeting between the King and EC President Ursula von der Leyen is disturbing.
Involving the monarch in such a contentious area of policy is constitutionally dangerous, especially if things later unravel. And suggestions that a deal might have been called ‘the Windsor Agreement’ smack of the sort of spin indulged in by the Blair government. Will it deserve such a title?
Key questions must be asked. Under this plan, for instance, will Northern Ireland’s manufacturers be making goods to comply with UK laws and regulations or EU ones? If they must comply with EU rules, then either the rest of the UK mirrors the EU rules – which is not Brexit. Or we do not, in which case the UK is split and part of it remains in the orbit of Brussels.
Another test is whether the ‘concessions’ are now formally under our control. Or have they been granted by the EU, which will retain ultimate authority and therefore the right to withdraw them?
If so, they would keep powerful leverage over this country, which they would be very likely to use.
The question which must worry government supporters is this: Why is Mr Sunak rushing in where experts fear to tread? Why is he risking a possible confrontation with the Democratic Unionist Party, which is not reluctant to use its considerable power to prevent any arrangement in Northern Ireland that it does not want, and which has significant allies among Tory MPs?
Most of the British public are uninterested in the Northern Irish conundrum and do not regard it as an urgent problem which must be solved immediately.
Local elections in May are already likely to be a nerveracking experience for the Tories. Yet if they concentrate on those matters which their supporters truly care about, especially migration and crime, they may yet claw back millions of votes. Sir Keir Starmer is not Tony Blair. The coming Election is not yet lost. But this is not the way for Mr Sunak to win it.