NI peace architect accuses Boris Johnson of 'casual political vandalism'
Source: The Guardian
NI peace architect accuses Boris Johnson of ‘casual political vandalism’
Jonathan Powell says PM and Brexit ministers risking fragile peace in Northern Ireland and ‘don’t seem to care’
Lisa O'Carroll Brexit correspondent
@lisaocarroll
Sun 2 Jan 2022 17.40 GMT
One of the architects of the Northern Ireland peace deal has said Boris Johnson and the former Brexit minister Lord Frost have risked “all the work” the previous generation of politicians put into the Belfast Good Friday agreement by putting their hard ideological beliefs ahead of people.
Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair’s former chief of staff and chief negotiator on Northern Ireland, said he was concerned that neither the prime minister nor the recently resigned Brexit minister seemed to understand or care about the fragility of the political settlement in Northern Ireland in 1998.
He also questioned why Frost had made the issue of the European court of justice a red line in negotiations on the Northern Ireland protocol when it was not responsible for either the practical difficulties in trade or the identity politics that has been heightened by the row over the Irish Sea border.
He said it was irresponsible to stoke the fears of one side or another or to fail to calm nerves about British identity after rioting on the streets earlier in 2020.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jan/02/ni-peace-architect-accuses-boris-johnson-of-casual-political-vandalism
