I think it's been obvious for months that Biden would make his presence felt in Ireland and the Irish have been working hard in Washington to get maximum leverage but even so, the intervention, which came a week ago on June 3rd was far stronger than anyone expected. The US Charge de affairs (they are still waiting to appoint an ambassador), Yael Lempert, had a meeting with Lord Frost and delivered a demarche, a formal diplomatic representation of a government’s official position, usually reserved for adversaries, about the NI situation.
The Times have obtained a memo detailing the conversation and have published a report which could be decisive: Joe Biden accuses Boris Johnson of 'inflaming' Irish tensions
๐บ๐ธ ๐ฌ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ชThe Times : The most senior US diplomat in the UK told Johnson’s team that President Biden intended to raise objections to Britain’s “increasingly heated rhetoric” and threats to unilaterally suspend the protocol - both in talks with the PM & in public. #G7Cornwall pic.twitter.com/rNZyLUxvMS— Darran Marshall (@DarranMarshall) June 9, 2021
It is an extraordinary moment in the crisis. The report says:
"Government minutes of the June 3 meeting reveal that Frost was told of Biden’s “great concern” over his stance in a tense encounter at which Lempert was said to have “slowly and gravely read her instructions [from Washington] aloud”.
"She [Lempert] warned that the increasingly bitter dispute between Britain and the EU over the protocol was “commanding the attention” of Biden before his first bilateral meeting with Johnson today.
"The memo said that the US 'strongly urged' Britain to come to a “negotiated settlement”, even if that meant 'unpopular compromises'. It added: “Lempert said the US was increasingly concerned about the stalemate on implementing the protocol. This was undermining the trust of our two main allies. The US strongly urged the UK to achieve a negotiated settlement.”
More than that she told Frost and John Bew, No 10’s senior adviser on foreign affairs, that Biden intended to raise his objections to Britain’s “increasingly heated rhetoric” and threats to unilaterally suspend the protocol both in talks with Johnson and in public at this weekend’s G7 summit in Cornwall.
This is big stuff.
not sure this Boris Johnson promise to Northern Ireland business leaders - that Brexit will not lead to any border bureaucracy of any kind - has aged brilliantlypic.twitter.com/mndvsMY5JL
— Jim Pickard (@PickardJE) June 9, 2021
For ease of reference this is how the EU deal with imports of food products (SPS) from 3 different sets of arrangements.Left is a Swiss deal๐จ๐ญMiddle is New Zealand ๐ณ๐ฟRight is third countries incl UK ๐ฌ๐งThis is why agreements,co-operation & deals matter. pic.twitter.com/Tu1UPJgpAt— Seamus Leheny (@Freight_NI) June 9, 2021
I wonder which humiliating option they will go for?