Wednesday 28 April 2021

More trouble is brewing in Northern Ireland

A lot of things seem to be swirling around, many of them centred on Johnson and his corrupt, bull-at-a-gate and ignore all the rules system of government. The NI protocol was negotiated at high speed and without any real thought about the consequences, most of which Johnson is still in denial about. Now the DUP leadership is under pressure to stand down, with a letter circulating signed by 22 Stormont MLAs and 4 MPs calling for Arlene Foster and Nigel Dodds to immediately begin a contest to choose new leaders.  It is being described as a 'mass revolt' and clearly the NI protocol is at the bottom of it.

Bad as Foster and Dodds are, this is not good news. There is a lot of anger in Loyalist ranks and much of it is focusing on the leader and her deputy who were duped by Johnson and hung out to dry. But any new leadership is likely to be even harder line - with Edwin Poot, the NI Agriculture minister said to be in line.  He was the man who halted building work on the new border infrastructure and is clearly not on the same page as the EU or the Irish government.

All this comes as loyalists demand MLAs withdraw from Stormont and shut down the devolved administration again.

There is perhaps a lesson here for other supporters of Johnson by the way. When things turn sour you will find yourself alone facing the repercussions for his crass decision making and lies, he will simply dump you. As the old saying goes, he has friends he hasn't even used yet, although he is fast running out of them.

Lord Moylan, one of the dafter Brexiteers (and that's saying something) tweets a lot about the NI protocol, for which he blames the EU. Somehow, Johnson is seen by many in NI and probably a big majority of unionists as the great betrayer who lied and lied to get Brexit done.  Yet Moylan blames the EU:

If you are interested Ross Atkins at the BBC has a nice 4 minute explainer in the tweet below and he doesn't blame the EU. If you have two separate countries outside the single market there must be a border and if it can't go on land it must go down the Irish sea:

I suspect the NI protocol is going to be thoroughly tested as the marching season starts up.  Just another self-inflicted Brexit wound.

Next it seems that Lord Brownlow, who donated £58,000 to the ‘trust’ that was never set up but which went on the cost of refurbishing Johnson’s flat in Downing Street, owns a company called Huntswood CTC Ltd which has benefited from government contracts. Some people are claiming that his company did significant business with the government, around £120 million apparently, albeit in a contract dating back to 2016.

Brownlow is also a director of Sarah Cameron’s company Samantha Cameron Studio Ltd, giving a whole new meaning to all ‘being in it together’.

Oddly, he also apparently contributed £100k to the anti-Brexit Stronger In campaign so I assume more than most he understands just how damaging Brexit will be.

The source of the money to pay for the refurbishment is still a mystery although it could be cleared up very quickly.  Peter Lilley once famously said an EU-UK trade deal could be done in ten minutes but it is taking days to answer the simple question about who paid for the expensing furnishings at No 11. 

Johnson is coming under serious pressure even from his own side to reveal the truth and I suspect from the length of time it is taking there is a lot we don't know and which is going to prove very embarrassing and awkward for him.  The Tory party seem to slowly and belatedly coming to the conclusion they have picked a thoroughly dishonest charlatan who will have to go sooner rather than later.

At noon today he will face a lawyer and former DPP across the despatch box. I look forward to it.

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