The Brexit steamroller trundles on.
Another day, another Brexit-related kerfuffle.
This time, it’s Boris Johnson’s turn to once again command the spotlight.
But first, a reminder of recent gaffes.
At the start of last week, Patrick Kielty expertly refuted a quite baffling claim made about the Irish border by ex-Northern Ireland Secretary of State Theresa Villiers.
Villiers argued that “there is no reason” why Britain should need to change its border arrangements in the event of Brexit, “because they’ve been broadly consistent in the 100 years since the creation of Ireland as a separate state.”
On Twitter, Kielty responded by noting:
“The border was consistently a war zone for 25 years. Then consistently invisible & peaceful for 20 years thanks to the Good Friday Agreement. The only thing “broadly consistent” here is the total ignorance of, wait for it, a former N Ireland Sec of State. Sweet baby Jesus.”
Elsewhere, a planned television debate between UK Prime Minister Theresa May and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was scrapped, and then Conservative MP Priti Patel stole the show by essentially suggesting the invoking a famine situation as leverage against the backstop.
Not surprisingly, Patel was heavily criticised for her remarks. She then claimed that she was taken out of context, which invited further backlash.
But hey if there’s one man who can take the baton and run immediately into a brick wall with it, it’s Boris Johnson.
BoJo was the guest on Sunday’s edition of The Andrew Marr Show on the BBC, where he argued that Britain should go forward with Brexit, but remove the backstop entirely in the process.
Host Andrew Marr immediately challenged Johnson on this, pointing out that going back to Brussels in a bid to secure a new deal that would remove the backstop is “fantasy politics” and will never happen.
“Let me suggest to you, gently, Andrew, that every single EU negotiation concludes in exactly this way,” replied Johnson.
“The horses change places in the final furlong,” he continued. “This is where the deals are done. Nothing is over until it’s over.
“If the Prime Minister is able to go back to Brussels this week and say, ‘I’m afraid that the Irish backstop solution that you have come up with is very unpopular; not just with the country but also with the House of Commons’, and if the House of Commons gives us a powerful mandate to change that backstop, then I think, as Romano Prodi, the former EU Commissioning President has said, they will listen.
“What they want is the best possible deal with the UK, a deal that keeps their goods and services flowing on either side of the channel,” added Johnson. “Neither side wants to go out on a no-deal Brexit.”
Watch the related clip below, should you please.
Boris Johnson: Go forward with the #Brexit deal, but remove the backstop
Former Foreign Secretary challenged by #marr who suggests idea is “fantasy politics”
Read more: https://t.co/RPprKkiZxW pic.twitter.com/HNvqvVljBT
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) December 9, 2018
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