Opinion

Deirdre Heenan: Boris Johnson needs to exit the stage – his self-serving, incoherent ramblings and fantasy got us into this Brexit mess

Former prime minister Boris Johnson says he would find it "very difficult" to vote for Rishi Sunak's Windsor Framework deal with the EU
Former prime minister Boris Johnson says he would find it "very difficult" to vote for Rishi Sunak's Windsor Framework deal with the EU Former prime minister Boris Johnson says he would find it "very difficult" to vote for Rishi Sunak's Windsor Framework deal with the EU

RISHI Sunak's historic agreement with Brussels has marked a sea change in UK relations with the European Union, but also significantly has brought into sharp relief the catastrophic impact of Boris Johnson on British politics.

Few would have predicted that within six months of him being ousted from office, the poisonous post-Brexit relations with Brussels would seem like a distant memory.

Sunak's warm rapport with Ursula von der Leyen is a world away from Johnson referring to the French as "turds" who were "shafting Britain" or his remarks comparing the invasion of Ukraine by Russia with the UK's relationship with the EU. Johnson has spent years carefully crafting a clownish persona that has elevated him to the highest stage, but his antics are dangerous and divisive.

When it seemed that the UK and the EU were edging towards a deal, Johnson decided it was an opportune moment to intervene and frame any compromise as a betrayal. We were told that he was "deeply concerned" that the PM would strike an agreement with Brussels which would afford a role to European judges.

His manufactured "unhappiness" was widely seen for what it was – an opportunity to exploit disquiet amongst Brexiteer Spartans and pile the pressure on Sunak. The perfidious Johnson viewed this issue as a route back to Downing Street.

He is far from a serious politician. This is the man who told NI businesses they could throw any paperwork in the bin, that he had secured an oven-ready deal. In a crowded field, perhaps his most egregious, cynical and reckless lie was that there would be a border in the Irish Sea over "his dead body".

Johnson has been widely quoted as saying that dropping the contentious NI Protocol Bill was a "great mistake" as it was important leverage in the talks with the EU.

The proposed legislation was designed to grant the British government the power to unilaterally move away from the current arrangements for Northern Ireland. The Bill set in motion by Johnson threatened to breach the UK's international obligations and made meaningful negotiation impossible. Sunak's decision to pause the legislation to give time and space to get the deal over the line, was an important signal that he was acting in good faith.

It is deeply ironic that those who wish to wreck Sunak's attempts to get us out of this bind are precisely the people who put us here in the first place. Without any shame Johnson, David Frost and the zealots in the ERG are demanding that Sunak scraps the Protocol – the very same one that they negotiated, signed and enthusiastically sold as "fantastic" less than three years ago.

Frankly, when they attack the Protocol, at best they are attacking their own Brexit, given that much of what they complain about are the inherent consequences of their own choices.

The ludicrous Lord Frost is now suggesting that the UK was forced to sign the Protocol under duress, an agreement that he simultaneously defends signing and repudiates in the same breath. Despite his parallel reality, he is revered as an intellectual heavyweight by the Tories.

Johnson's former chief political aide, Dominic Cummings, explained that Johnson "never had a Scooby-Doo what the deal he signed meant", and furthermore "cheating foreigners is a core part of the job". Sunak is just the latest Tory PM that the increasingly desperate band of Brexit headbangers want to destroy.

Prior to the deal being announced, Johnson contacted the DUP and urged the party to think carefully before declaring support for Sunak's framework – a bit rich from the man whose own deal upset the delicate balance of relationships underpinning the Good Friday Agreement.

When Sunak went to the Commons to sell his Windsor Framework, it received a warm welcome from both sides of the house. Former PM Theresa May urged all MPs to back the post-Brexit deal, saying "that is what is in the best interests of all the people of Northern Ireland".

Johnson did not even bother to turn up, saying he was studying and reflecting on the government's proposals. On Thursday, in characteristically shape-shifting fashion, Johnson announced that he hoped the Windsor Framework would be successful but that he would find it "very difficult" to vote for it.

While not coming out all guns blazing against the deal, he implied that it betrayed the Brexit dream. According to him, it will not allow the UK to take back control as it will act as a "drag on divergence" and limit the UK's ability to capitalise on Brexit freedoms. He added that he believed "we should have done something different".

How interesting. Such as? Given his abysmal failure to address these longstanding issues, it seems fair to conclude that his different wouldn't have helpful.

Johnson has not a shred of credibility. His opposition to the Windsor Framework provides a dilemma for Sunak. Should he whip the parliamentary vote on the new agreement and sanction Johnson if he fails to support it in the voting lobbies, or just ignore him?

Given the British mainstream media's inexplicable fixation with Johnson and their apparent unwillingness to call out his appalling behaviour, Sunak must face him down.

Rest assured, if presented with the opportunity to become the story he will shamelessly grab it with both hands. It is high time Johnson's brand of politics was consigned to the dustbin of history. Indulging his self-serving, incoherent ramblings and fantasy is what got us into this mess in the first place.