Opinion

Tom Kelly: Sammy Wilson in retreat over his Brexit red lines

Tom Kelly

Tom Kelly

Tom Kelly is an Irish News columnist with a background in politics and public relations. He is also a former member of the Policing Board.

Ardent Brexiteer Sammy Wilson has started to climbdown on his previously unyielding opposition to Theresa May's Withdrawal Agreement. Picture by Matt Bohill
Ardent Brexiteer Sammy Wilson has started to climbdown on his previously unyielding opposition to Theresa May's Withdrawal Agreement. Picture by Matt Bohill Ardent Brexiteer Sammy Wilson has started to climbdown on his previously unyielding opposition to Theresa May's Withdrawal Agreement. Picture by Matt Bohill

SINCE the referendum there is no-one I have clashed more with in the media on Brexit than Sammy Wilson, the maverick DUP MP for East Antrim.

Other opponents speaking on Brexit matters are easily dismissed as mad, bad and dangerous. Most are just plain ignorant about Ireland, relations within Northern Ireland and the impact of Brexit on Anglo-Irish relations.

Few could locate the border and fewer still have read the Good Friday Agreement.

The level of ignorance and stupidity amongst the chattering political classes within the British establishment is simply staggering.

It's like watching The Life and Times of Colonel Blimp without any of the warm glow of nostalgia.

No-one seriously believes that the likes of Jacob Rees-Mogg, Boris Johnson, Andrew Bridgen or Peter Bone care one jot for the Irish; not the six million Britons with at least one Irish grandparent; not the near-one million Irish born citizens living in the UK; not the 1.8 million Northern Irish or the 4.8 million living in the Republic of Ireland. These are the little Englanders living the dream in their own Lilliputian empire.

Wilson, on the other hand, does understand the realities of a harsh Brexit in Northern Ireland.

He claims that his position on Brexit is doing business here a favour. The only problem with his assertion is that business leaders strongly disagree. As do farmers.

Undeterred, Wilson peddles his wares with all the persuasiveness of PT Barnum. Voters in Larne lap it up.

It may surprise some readers to know that whilst serving on the Policing Board, this writer found Wilson to be amiable, jokey, warm and capable of personal kindness.

He is also extraordinarily loyal to those he regards as friends. That said, given his extreme views on social issues we found little in common on matters beyond policing.

The appointment to the Policing Board was part of Wilson's rehabilitation within the DUP.

Long before Theresa May disclosed that the naughtiest thing she has ever done was to run through wheat fields as a child, it was revealed to the public in 1996 that Sammy Wilson also liked romping through fields, albeit 'sans vêtements'...

The event no doubt raised a few eyebrows in the Bible belt but it also caused a ripple of laughter from both colleagues and opponents.

The late Martin McGuinness couldn't resist the jibe when he took office in the Assembly. In fairness to Wilson he had a right to privacy over his private life but he took the taunts well.

These days the man who once bared all bares all with a range of views which make Trump seem bland.

A single man, now approaching his 66th birthday, his outlandish views on breastfeeding in public are ill conceived for what should be a maturing politician.

His reported comments about the gay community are stomach churning. When environment minister, Wilson championed the myths of the anti-climate change lobby, in contradiction with the policies of his own department.

At his party conferences he fulfilled the role of Falstaff at the court of Peter and Nigel.

He enjoys the attention and to his credit his pithy, funny and if somewhat crude remarks are a sub editors dream for headlines.

To some, Wilson is like the Jim Davidson of Northern Ireland politics. Passed over for the leadership of the DUP in a velvet coup, Wilson has at times put down markers with his former leader, Peter Robinson as well as the current leader, Arlene Foster.

Such is his popularity with older grassroots members of the DUP, he even gets forgiven for making policy on the hoof.

In some ways it is regrettable that Wilson did not become DUP leader because they would have haemorrhaged the votes of middle ground unionists.

Despite the rhetoric, the DUP's grey suits know that the party needs the safe hand of Dodds near the tiller.

Wilson last week started preparing for a Brexit climbdown. He who rejected a legal codicil to the Withdrawal Agreement or political declaration by saying no-one believed the Prime Minister any more knows the game is up.

Parliament is going to stop a no deal Brexit. Wilson, who once claimed a no deal scenario is better than a bad deal, now has to backtrack as even the ERG now fear the prospect of no Brexit or a second referendum.

No doubt Wilson, the son of a pastor, will soon reflect on Proverbs 10:19: "When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise."