As Far As I Could Throw Him

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From top: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and then Taoiseach Leo Varadkar at Parliament Buildings at Stormont, Belfast, Northern Ireland on January 13, 2020; Texts last night from former Johnson aide Dominic Cummings

This afternoon.

Via ITV News:

Ireland has warned countries around the world not to trust the UK because it is run by a “British government that doesn’t necessarily keep its word”.

Irish deputy prime minister Leo Varadkar urged countries to be careful when dealing with the UK because of the “bad faith” demonstrated in the government’s plans to overhaul a key agreement signed as part of the Brexit deal.

After agreeing to the Northern Ireland Protocol – part of the Brexit arrangement that means checks on some goods and services flowing between Great Britain and NI – the UK has continually sought to change aspects of it.

The EU, and swathes of British MPs, have been unhappy about the UK’s attempts to renege on the agreement, but comments by Boris Johnson’s former top aide Dominic Cummings appear to have caused anger.

‘They don’t keep their word’: Ireland warns world against signing deals with UK after Brexit (ITV)

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18 thoughts on “As Far As I Could Throw Him

  1. Ronan

    It’s a fair cop.

    I trust this British Government about as much as I do the Taliban in terms of keeping their word.

    It’s funny, just today I had a conversation with a chap where I yearned for the simpler days of honest crooks like Clinton, Bush, Cheney, Blair

    Ronan

    1. Bitnboxy

      I guess polticial opportunism and cute hoorism is a necessary evil in the fraught business of national politics which tbf most folks accept in some respect as long as kept in check but still, you’ve got to wonder about the UK. To use a well-trodden phrase: how the fupp did the English (and tis mostly the English) run an empire?! Moronic doesn’t just quite capture the current level of HMG incompetence.

  2. Tom

    Sometimes the failure to keep promises is perfectly justifiable. But making promises you have little or no intention of keeping is a different matter – it’s a form of lying. Dominic ignores this distinction.

  3. Micko

    I have no doubt that this is true, but it’s a bit odd that Varadkar would say such a thing. Unstatesmanlike. It’s not like the UK are our enemies or some rogue nation like North Korea.

    Reminds me of something that would be said in the schoolyard. “Don’t talk to him, he tells porkies”

    They’re at least supposed to pretend that the wheels are still on the cart when talking to the general population.

      1. ian-oG

        Exactly Micko.

        Varadkar is a fools idea of a good leader. Moron cannot keep his gob shut for more than 30 seconds.

        The world doesn’t need him telling them what is quite clear in relation to the UK, BUT! It gets Leo’s name out to a global audience and that is what really matters.

        The reality here is that it is the Conservatives under Boris Johnson who are breaking their word, love them or hate them but the modern Labour party has kept its word as far as I know on everything they promised in relation to Ireland and stop me if I am wrong so did the Lib Dems and the SNP so Leo is wrong in what he is saying here. I suppose he has looked at how Boris says whatever he likes and gets away with it and thinks he can do the same.

        Well done Leo, an utterly idiotic thing to say to a global audience. While its true we cannot trust Johnson and the Tories, extending that to the entire UK is incorrect, has he forgotten that almost half of those who voted voted to stay?

        1. jungleman

          The current Tory government represents the entire UK so what he says is accurate. You are twisting his words. He is not talking about any randomer in the UK. That should be obvious to everyone. A state does not just get a clean slate when a different party gets into power.

  4. paul

    I don’t like agreeing with Varadkar. If he put himself in with those deemed untrustworthy, I’d agree with him even more.

  5. Pat

    The most important thing is to base everything on the exact wording of that ITV headline.

    You might hear people say the word ‘clickbait’.

    Ignore that and keep focussed on the headline

  6. Junkface

    Similarly, I wish Irish leaders like Leo and the rest of the empty suits could be trusted on anything they have promised to the Irish people with regards to housing, healthcare and child care. They promise to fix the crises, and do barely anything.

    that being said, yes Boris and his crew seem to be wrecking the UK’s reputation. Thew had no plan for brexit, and continue to work using trial and error.

    1. Ronan

      Do they promise to ‘fix the crises’? From what I’ve seen they normally deflect questions about fixing things and parrot “we’ve committed €Xm this year and €Yb over the next 3 years to deliver Z,000 new affordable and public housing”

      They rarely say “we’ll sort it” and actually say “we’ve committed x in badly planned spending”

    2. Nigel

      If people keep voting them in they tend to get the impression that they should keep on doing what they’ve been doing and everything else is just noise.

  7. jungleman

    The funny thing is Dominic Cummings is your typical student politician and for a short while got away with having never grown up. Our pal E’matty is a good example of his level of pseudo-intellectual delusions. Or Russell Brand.

  8. Gerry

    At least half the costly red tape now is proposed to be going
    That can only be good for north and south

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