"I know we shouldn't comment on British politics."
Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan has taken a particularly dim view of a viral video that shows former United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson totally unable to get his facts right about Portugal.
The video shows Johnson filming footage in Portugal for his social media accounts, and features him asserting that fictional spy James Bond was born in Portugal before being corrected by an aide, who tells him that "the idea" for James Bond was born in Portugal.
It also shows the former London Mayor expressing confusion over Portugal's role in World War 2, and its status as a UK trading partner.
Fine Gael TD Flanagan took to Twitter to share the video and wrote: "I know we shouldn’t comment on British politics but I’m not commenting on British politics...and even if I was Boris wouldn’t mind......." Indeed, Flanagan quote-tweeted a tweet that compared the Boris footage to a scene from political comedy The Thick Of It.
https://twitter.com/CharlieFlanagan/status/1067532331458678786
Many have suggested that the screw-ups are so bad that the video actually seems staged.
As pressure grows on Theresa May to get her Brexit deal through the House of Commons, speculation has mounted that she could be replaced as leader of the Tory party — with Johnson touted as a potential replacement by Jacob Rees-Mogg.
The footage was filmed as part of BBC Two's documentary series Inside The Foreign Office.
