Thread by @JohnGPeet

Even by his own low standards, Boris Johnson’s Telegraph article plumbs new depths of shoddiness and dishonesty (short thread) 1/

It was obvious to anyone who thought for 5 minutes that Northern Ireland and specifically the border with Ireland would be a massive problem if the UK voted for Brexit 2/

When it did, Britain agreed to an EU demand that NI should be part of the Withdrawal Agreement, not the future relationship. It could have said no. Johnson was foreign secretary at the time. 3/

There were only ever two possible solutions to the NI conundrum. One, align the UK with the EU’s customs code and almost all single-market rules, including for SPS. Thus no border controls between UK and Ireland. 4/

Two, align NI alone with the EU’s customs code and almost all single-market rules, including for SPS. But that inevitably meant customs and other checks in the Irish Sea. 5/

“Alternative arrangements”, “Malthouse compromises” or claims that neither Ireland nor the UK would ever put up border controls: none of these were ever going to work. 6/

In December 2017 Theresa May toyed with solution two, but was forced off it by Arlene Foster, and then said that no British prime minister would ever agree to it. 7/

So she fell back on solution one, calling it a backstop in hopes that something else might come along in a future FTA that would avoid having to use it. 8/

When Johnson took over, he decided to junk the NI backstop. The only way to do this was to revert to solution two, in effect creating a frontstop for immediate use after Brexit.9/

Now Johnson expresses outrage because the protocol he signed and ratified means border and customs controls in the Irish Sea. And a backdoor for EU state aid rules via the province. 10/

Yet he knew this in October 2019, and in the December election, and when ratifying the WA. The claim it was too rushed to understand is absurd: he forced it through with minimum debate. 11/

On export declarations NI to GB, the default option that all goods GB to NI should be treated as at risk of entering the single market and on state aids, the NI protocol could not be clearer. 12/

To claim that the EU is adopting an “extreme” position of trying to divide the United Kingdom is outrageously dishonest. It was Johnson who chose to carve off NI, not the EU. 13/

And his whole party, including all those Brexiteers shouting loudest now, supported this choice. Knowing that it meant a border in the Irish Sea. 14/

It is true that a joint committee exists to sort out practicalities of the NI protocol. But it was not set up to change the meaning of the WA, and it cannot legally be used to rewrite a treaty. 15/

If Johnson did not want a border in the Irish Sea, he could have refused to agree to the protocol. That would have meant no WA, but it would at least have been honest. 16/

And finally, to pretend that his new internal market bill “protects” the GFA is utter drivel. It was the NI protocol that protected the GFA – either in May’s form or his own. 17/

If anybody is now threatening the GFA and the peace process, it is Boris Johnson. 18 ends/.

PS as a footnote since many people have kindly both liked and retweeted this thread: I note that not one hard Brexiteer that I can find has tried to refute a single statement in this thread. They all know their position is both ridiculous and mendacious.