Boris Johnson has made his first comments on Rishi Sunak’s protocol deal. In a speech at the Global Soft Power Summit in the Queen Elizabeth II Centre, the former prime minister has criticised the agreement – titled the ‘Windsor framework’ – saying he will find it ‘difficult’ to vote for it. Johnson said he had ‘mixed feelings’ about the deal, saying the original Protocol arrangement was ‘all my fault’ but querying whether Sunak’s new deal is all he claims it to be.
Johnson’s intervention could lead to others such as fellow former prime minister Liz Truss speaking out
Johnson said it was not the UK taking back control: ‘I’m conscious I’m not going to be thanked for saying this, but I think it is my job to do so: we must be clear about what is really going on here. This is not about the UK taking back control, and although there are easements this is really a version of the solution that was being offered last year to Liz Truss when she was Foreign Secretary. This is the EU graciously unbending to allow us to do what we want to do in our own country, not by our laws but by theirs.’
Johnson added that ‘we’ve got to hope it works’ but if it doesn’t Sunak ought to re-threaten his Northern Ireland Protocol Bill to unilaterally rewrite parts of the deal. He recalled how Angela Merkel had told him during his time in No. 10 that if the UK government continued with this bill ‘it will be a Shakespearean tragedy’.
So, where does Johnson’s position leave Sunak? While the former prime minister has said he would struggle to vote for it, that still leaves the option of abstaining rather than actively voting against it. His comments also suggest he is not about to try to lead a rebellion on the issue. Unlike with Theresa May’s Chequers agreement, he is not saying the party ought to block it. He is, however, continuing to plant seeds of discontent over the handling of Brexit under Sunak.
It means his comments could add to the doubts some members of the European Research Group (ERG) have over the deal. As I report for the magazine this week, the ERG is divided. When the group met on Tuesday, figures such as Bernard Jenkin were downbeat, questioning the differences between UK and EU versions of the text and asking whether Sunak has oversold it. Yet others argued that, given the deal was undeniably an improvement on the status quo, it was hard to make a case against it.
Ministers are braced for a rebellion when MPs eventually vote on the deal – which could be in days or months. But they hope it will be small and contained. Johnson’s intervention could lead to others such as fellow former prime minister Liz Truss speaking out. But there is another important thing that Johnson said. He suggested in his speech that his is a minority view, admitting that ‘people want to move on’. That suggests that even Johnson believes any rebellion will be smaller than some of the warnings last week of 100 MPs going against the government.
Boris Johnson criticises Sunak’s Northern Ireland deal
4
27
02.03.2023
Boris Johnson has made his first comments on Rishi Sunak’s protocol deal. In a speech at the Global Soft Power Summit in the Queen Elizabeth II Centre, the former prime minister has criticised the agreement – titled the ‘Windsor framework’ – saying he will find it ‘difficult’ to vote for it. Johnson said he had ‘mixed feelings’ about the deal, saying the original Protocol arrangement was ‘all my fault’ but querying whether Sunak’s new deal is all he claims it to be.
Johnson’s intervention could lead to others such as fellow former prime minister Liz Truss speaking out
Johnson said it was not the UK taking back control: ‘I’m conscious I’m not going to be thanked for saying this, but I think it is my job to do........
© The Spectator
visit website
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Marwan Bishara
Mort Laitner
Andrew Mitrovica
Grant Arthur Gochin
Priyamvada Gopal
Poonam Muttreja
Obaid Mir
Patrick Gathara
Zaher Sahloul
