IF there is one aspect of Boris Johnson's premiership that we might miss, it's his way with words.
However it seems likely he will return to journalism and writing books, so we shall have ample opportunity to read Bojo's prose - although it won't carry as much weight as when he was the principal occupant of Number Ten.
The phrase or slogan most associated with him was probably "Get Brexit done", but I have discovered that he didn't come up with it himself. Political strategist Sir Lynton Crosby told the Yorkshire Post that it was inspired by a woman who asked the question in a Bradford discussion group: "Can the government just get Brexit done?"
A lot of people get frustrated with the way politicians ramble on at times about their aims and objectives. "Get Brexit done" was concise and to the point, indeed Professor Tim Bale from the University of London has been quoted as saying that it appealed not only to those who wanted to leave the European Union but also to some remainers who were "sick to the back teeth" of Brexit and wanted to move on.
The same is probably true of people on both sides of the argument over the Northern Ireland Protocol - an offshoot of Brexit, of course. In an ideal world, the United Kingdom and the European Union would follow the example of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement negotiations and sit around a table until a deal that allays unionists concerns without unduly upsetting the EU is hammered out, but the mood between London and the Brussels seems rather like what might obtain after a bitter marriage break-up.
The Tory government is legislating on a unilateral basis that all those trading from Britain into Northern Ireland would be part of a trusted trader scheme and that goods which are not intended to go across the Irish land border into the EU would use a 'green lane' and not have to face customs bureaucracy. There would also be a 'red lane' for products arriving from Britain or any other third country on their way to the Republic of Ireland and the rest of the EU and these would be subject to full checks, controls and customs duties at point of entry to the north. The British government is also proposing that trade disputes should be resolved by independent arbitration rather than the European Court of Justice.
The devil is always in the detail but, on the face of it, these issues appear to be negotiable. I recall that, when it looked as if Brexit was going to involve a land border, there was talk of trusted traders who could be relied on to follow the rules and not engage in what would effectively be smuggling. Hopefully the incoming Conservative prime minister will take a pragmatic approach. Let's get the protocol issues sorted.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the border, it is reported that there are internal rumblings in Fianna Fáil about Micheál Martin's leadership of the party and that there could be a "heave" against him at the end of the year. He is due to hand over the job of taoiseach on December 15 to his Fine Gael counterpart and coalition partner Leo Varadkar. If you were a Fianna Fáil TD you would certainly be concerned about your party's prospects in the next general election and the possibility of losing your seat. Whether a change of leader by itself would improve FF's fortunes is open to question. Going into government with Fine Gael was something the party's founders would hardly have envisaged and it no doubt strengthened Sinn Féin's claim to be the sole custodians of Ireland's republican heritage.
Last Sunday, Martin spoke at a graveside commemoration of Seán Lemass (1899-1971), one of his more distinguished predecessors as party leader and taoiseach. He praised Lemass's role in setting Ireland on the road to membership of what is now the European Union as well as the work he did to promote understanding and cooperation between the two parts of the island.
In the speech as issued by the Fianna Fáil Press Office, the taoiseach says: "Northern Ireland is still largely missing from news and current affairs coverage in Dublin – appearing only when there is a crisis to be covered." In my view, however, this is too much of a generalisation as certain media devote a good deal of attention to events and issues in the north - but it would help of course if there was a functioning assembly and executive at Stormont.
Email: Ddebre1@aol.com; Twitter: @DdeBreadun
