There is something shameless about Boris Johnson. We had another night of violence in Northern Ireland last night with police being attacked and a bus set on fire. The prime minister tweeted about being "deeply concerned by the scenes of violence" and saying the way to "resolve differences is through dialogue, not violence or criminality." But at the root of the problem is the NI protocol, for which alone carries the burden, and the dozens of assurances he has personally given NOT to have a border of any kind between GB and NI.
And yet he makes no apology or offers even the slightest acknowledgement of his own role in the growing unrest. This is his tweet:
I am deeply concerned by the scenes of violence in Northern Ireland, especially attacks on PSNI who are protecting the public and businesses, attacks on a bus driver and the assault of a journalist. The way to resolve differences is through dialogue, not violence or criminality.
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) April 7, 2021
It was his driving ambition to occupy No 10 at any cost (at ANY cost - remember that in the coming weeks), to rush everything through under ridiculous deadlines and finally his agreement to a sea border that he didn't appear to understand the details of, which is behind the unrest.
Lord Moylan, one of the more ridiculous Brexiteers puts the blame squarely on the EU:
Crass statement from colonial EU insisting that the right response to tensions is the full implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
— Lord Moylan (@danielmgmoylan) April 7, 2021
Bus set on fire in Belfast on sixth night of unrest in Northern Ireland https://t.co/ASh1Q7RE3k
However, much Johnson and Moylan might want to forget it, Twitter has a habit of producing every word uttered or written about any given topic and Johnson's words on the subject are undeniable. Someone has posted this video of the PM speaking in parliament in November 2018 when one of the options put forward by the EU was a sea border:
The fool is adamant that he could never support it. A year later he was hailing it as an excellent idea, putting it before a bamboozled electorate, winning an election and forcing it through parliament at breakneck speed. Incidentally, in the clip he says he does not see how unionists could support it, well they don't as we can see.
Pretty solid stuff, eh? Looks like a watertight guarantee. I think there was a section of the electorate who thought he was clever, that he understood the problem and had a solution. We now know far from having a solution, he didn't even understand the problem.
The result is running battles with the PSNI in Belfast and other towns and cities in Northern Ireland.
Those of us old enough remember plenty of appeals for calm in the thirty years of the troubles which had little effect. I hope order is restored but I genuinely cannot see it under this prime minister. At present the anger is directed towards the authorities from one section of the community. The violence is not sectarian - at the moment - but it only takes a single incident to spark it all off once again.
Johnson and the EU are to blame for believing that a sea border was the answer. Before embarking on the WA the people of NI should have been consulted and the difficulties explained and the solutions aired. The fact that the division has been imposed is driving a lot of the tensions.
None of this should come a as a surprise. Unionists were talking about 'boiling anger' in Loyalist communities even in October 2019 when the deal was signed. So anxious were the Brexiteers to 'free themselves' from Brussels they were prepared to ignore the potential for trouble in NI and essentially sell their Unionist partners down the river.
I first went to Belfast in 1973 and it was not a pleasant experience. I don't know how people were expected to live under those circumstances. Crossing the border into Ireland, as I have done on a few occasions, was intimidating to say the least, surrounded by heavily armed soldiers and driving between concrete pillboxes is not nice.
Johnson's innate stupidity and cavalier attitude to everything, may play well with those who are impatient and demand quick, simple answers to complex issues, but we will all be paying the price very soon.
