Northern Ireland

Patrick Kielty launches online attack on Boris Johnson's 'ignorant' Brexit plans

Patrick Kielty has launched a series of online attacks against Tory MP, Boris Johnson over his plans for a 'better Brexit'
Patrick Kielty has launched a series of online attacks against Tory MP, Boris Johnson over his plans for a 'better Brexit' Patrick Kielty has launched a series of online attacks against Tory MP, Boris Johnson over his plans for a 'better Brexit'

COMEDIAN and television host Patrick Kielty has launched a series of online attacks against Tory MP, Boris Johnson over his plans for a 'better Brexit'.

Taking to Twitter, Kielty, whose father Jack was murdered by the UFF in 1988, said the former British foreign secretary's Brexit plans, which include the proposed adoption of a Canadian free-trade model, would see the north become "more divided" and threaten the future of the Good Friday Agreement.

He also stated that a border poll was now "inevitable" thanks to Johnson's "monumental ignorance".

"Thanks to your glorious Brexit vision Northern Ireland will become more divided as some form of economic border checks will become part of daily lives," Kielty wrote in one of 20 numbered points on Mr Johnson's latest column in the Daily Telegraph, published on Thursday.

"If those checks take place between NI and Ireland, the Nationalists who were once happy being part of the UK will change their mind," he said.

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"Your Brexit lies have opened a Pandora’s box for Northern Ireland. It's one reason why the majority of people in NI voted to remain in the EU (almost as if they knew more about the fragile equilibrium of their politics than you)."

In reference to the "inevitable" border poll, Kielty believed the result could "easily" be lost by the UK and would be Mr Johnson's fault.

"When that poll is eventually held the Nationalists who were once content being part of a Northern Ireland within the UK and EU will vote to leave the UK to feel as Irish and European as they did before Brexit," he wrote.

"The poll will be much closer thanks to your Brexit folly and could easily be lost by Unionists, breaking up the UK."

"You will be remembered not as the Churchillian visionary you delude yourself to be but the ignoramus who triggered the break up of the UK," he wrote in another post.

In his Daily Telegraph column, the Uxbridge and South Ruislip MP outlined why the Chequers proposals were disastrous and espoused the benefits of a free trade agreement similar to the one in Canada. Mr Johnson believes such a deal would not be contrary to the Good Friday Agreement and that a hard border in Ireland can be avoided. He recognises that adopting the Canada model would result in some form of border, different to others around the world, but that it is "perfectly possible and practical, and the experience for businesses using the border can be smooth and hassle-free". Mr Johnson also claims that border checks are "not necessary" and would cause untold damage post-Brexit.

Earlier this year Patrick Kielty opened up about the murder of his father and his feelings 20 years after the Good Friday Agreement in the BBC programme, My Dad, The Peace Deal And Me.