No.206 - Duplicity, piled on Deceit piled on Hypocrisy. Who would Trust Boris Johnson?

Dear James, 

Let me get straight to the point. Suppose you were up before a magistrate on some minor traffic offence. Suppose also that the magistrate has just found you culpable and imposed a £80 fine? Would you then accuse her of being ‘bloody minded’, ‘inflexible’ or ‘dogmatic’?  Or would you suggest that she should be ‘more pragmatic’ about the law or even that the current law was unsustainable as a result of its impact on your current account? Because that essentially is what Boris Johnson is doing with regard to the Northern Ireland Protocol, that keystone of the deal with the EU withdrawal treaty. Of course, you did warn us that your party intended to break international law some time ago so I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. So surprised, I am not. But ashamed I am! I am appalled and horrified by your government’s disrespect for law and due process. Indeed, today I am ashamed to be British!

You may argue that the treaty hasn’t ‘settled’ yet. That is bullshit. Last year Boris signed a formal document with the EU describing in great detail the Northern Ireland Protocol. This was designed to prevent damage to the Good Friday Agreement and obviated the need for putting a hard border on the island of Ireland. Instead, both sides agreed that the new border should be in the Irish Sea.  A border means checks, right?  Our civil service, the government and you yourself voted for the deal. Yet the ink was hardly dry on the paper when Boris was caught saying to his cronies, that if any business person got a request for a border check, they should put it straight in the bin. This is classic Boris. Promise one thing with no intention of respecting the promise. Would anyone ever trust this man again? 

The truth is that Boris Johnson, is the least trustworthy Prime Minister that our nation has ever produced. The only way he was able to break the deadlock on Brexit was to betray the unionists in Northern Ireland. Now he is attempting to disguise that betrayal by picking a fight with the EU. His methods and the underlying lack of morality and ethics are an attack on the rule of law worldwide. And you, my own MP, supports the scoundrel! 

Yesterday we saw the hapless Lord Frost, standing before the cameras and saying that EU should be more flexible! His effrontery was astonishing and he knows it. His face says it all. He is like a Hereford bull who, for reasons of face, is unable to admit that, as he speaks, he is being mounted in the rear by a competitor bull. He has the look of the permanently embarrassed and discomfited liar. He says that post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland had proven unsustainable as a result of the impact of the customs and regulatory border between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. But he knew all that when the document was signed.  And Boris himself is now bringing in further arguments. “If it looks as though the EU is going to be very dogmatic about it and we continue to be in an absurd situation so you can’t bring in rose bushes with British soil into Northern Ireland, you can’t bring British sausages into Northern Ireland, then frankly I’m going to, we’ll have to take further steps.” Bash them with details, ignore the big picture! 

This is the latest version of Johnson’s ‘having his cake and eating it’ syndrome. This version might be called, ‘Promise whatever the deal demands then deny that it was ever what was agreed.” And to add insult to injury, Boris said recently that the protocol threatens the integrity of the Union! No Boris! It was your deal with the Irish Taoiseach back in November 2019 that threatened the integrity of the Union. And that was all your own doing!

Last week the EU issued a ‘démarche’ or ‘protest’ to the UK about the possibility of legal action to come. This week the new US administration warned Boris about the impact on the Good Friday Agreement that his actions would cause. Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told journalists: “Any steps that imperil or undermine the Good Friday agreement will not be welcomed by the US.” The message is clear. Boris has boxed himself into a corner and no doubt he will soon start sending out the gunboats! How your party fanatics will love that!  

James, I have no doubt that, before that putative Magistrate, you’d be the perfect, respectful citizen. It’s such a pity that such probity deserts you when it comes to the much weightier things of the ship of state. I sincerely hope that you can live with your conscience? 

 Kind regards, 

 BH – Your Concerned Constituent