The NI protocol is about to return to the centre of the stage as the DUP Agriculture minister orders civil servants to halt checks at the sea border, the ones the EU have already described as "not fit for purpose". Edwin Poots ordered the halt as of midnight last night but this morning nobody seems to know if officials have obeyed or intend to obey the instruction or not. Many people think they would be acting illegally and it's not impossible someone will countermand the instruction.
The fact is it does not really matter. The checks as I said are not being carried out properly as we had agreed anyway and the very act of issuing the instruction to stop will anger the EU as well as Republicans in the north.
The UK government has indicated they will not step in and order the checks to restart, saying it's a matter for the NI power sharing executive, something bound to raise hackles in the EU commission since, as several legal minds have pointed out, Whitehall as the power to do so.
Carl is, I think, right that a refusal by the current government to use its powers (here) to compel the NI executive’s compliance with the UK’s international obligations would itself be subject to judicial review. https://t.co/7s8fJgzotI pic.twitter.com/UTHFuhzoV4
— George Peretz QC (@GeorgePeretzQC) February 2, 2022
There is a suggestion that the decision NOT to intervene may be subject to a judicial review to force ministers - presumably Brandon Lewis - to act.
I don't believe any government has ever signed an international treaty and subsequently abrogated responsibility for implementing it to a regional authority, who then proceed to ignore it. Nobody in the UK government can believe this is remotely sustainable.
There are suggestions the diplomatic lines between Dublin and Washington will be running hot today as no doubt will the ones to Brussels. Johnson's posturing about Britain's efforts to put together a global coalition to apply sanctions to Russia in the even of an invasion of Ukraine looked pretty hollow before, now they look downright silly.
The idea that sovereignty means countries are free to do as they wish at all times is being tested to destruction. Frost and Cummings may have believed you can sign treaties in bad faith and, free of constraints, ignore the bits you don't like, but states have a complex web of obligations to each other and acting unilaterally is a recipe for breaking other important parts of the web that you value.
It's just another crisis to add to all the others swirling around Westminster, all of which have their roots in the cavalier, rule-breaking behaviour of one man, Boris Johnson.
I confess one of the worst aspects of Brexit (for which Johnson bears most responsibility) is the fact that it makes us look stupid. Having spent years in and out of European airports, I have only travelled once since the referendum and felt a profound sense of embarrassment flashing my UK (maroon and EU stamped) passport in Italy. Brexit makes fools of all of us in my opinion and at the very least we have gone down in most foreigner's estimation since 2016.
Applying for a blue UK passport is not something I ever intend to do. It would be a step too far.
To see just how low we have sunk, note the comments of a spokesman for the Russian Federation speaking about Britain's pathetic attempts to appear relevant in the Ukraine crisis.
"As you know, we have not announced any call with Prime Minister Johnson and are not going to announce it any further," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
"It makes sense to speak to anybody," Peskov added. "Russia and President Putin are open to communicating with everyone. Even to someone who is utterly confused, he is prepared to provide exhaustive explanations."
Mr Peskov was even more scathing about Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who, against all odds, has demonstrated she is even more ignorant of international affairs than Johnson was during his time at the FCO. She apparently thought the Baltic states were somewhere in Turkey after she said Britain was sending supplies to its "Baltic allies across the Black Sea." The two bodies of water are on opposite sides of the European continent.
Listen to this humiliation:
"Mrs. Truss, your knowledge of history is nothing compared to your knowledge of geography," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova wrote in a blog post.
"If anyone needs saving from anything, it's the world, from the stupidity and ignorance of British politicians."
I have always believed one of the worst aspects of Brexit was the international reaction to it. It was the act of a deluded nation
But worse has arrived with the government led by the only man who could get Brexit ‘done’. Johnson was the only one stupid enough to do it and subsequently to create and head up the ideocracy that we are currently governed by.
