The Daily Telegraph - 01.08.2019

8 ***^ Thursday 1 August 2019 The Daily Telegraph

Irish leader blamed for ‘Project Fear mark II’

By Charles Hymas
HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR

LEO VARADKAR, the Irish Taoiseach,
has been accused of running “project
fear mark II” as he says he will not be
“bullied” into backing down on the
Brexit deal.
Boris Johnson, who held talks in
Stormont yesterday with the leaders of
the five main Northern Irish parties,

has demanded that the backstop be

binned as a precondition to entering

into Brexit negotiations and avoiding a

no-deal Brexit.

On Tuesday, he told Mr Varadkar in a

phone call that Britain will leave the EU

on Oct 31 “no matter what”.

Downing Street sources said he

reiterated his “clear preference to leave

the EU with a deal, but it must be one

that abolishes the backstop”, the device

which seeks to prevent a hard border

returning to the island of Ireland.

However, asked yesterday if he

would cave in to UK demands, Mr Var-

adkar said: “Absolutely not. You know

Ireland isn’t going to be bullied on this

issue and as a government and as a

country, I think we are going to stick by

our position. Brexit wasn’t our idea.”

Mr Johnson’s tough approach is

backed by the DUP, the Conservatives

confidence and supply partners in

Westminster, who insisted that they

wanted a “sensible” Brexit deal, but

said it would be foolish to take no-deal

off the negotiating table.

Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, said:

“It is very clear it is the backstop that

has caused all of the difficulties with

the Withdrawal Agreement and there-

fore that needs to be the subject of

focused negotiations to deal with it,

and therefore we will support the

Prime Minister in doing that.”

On her rationale for not ruling out a

no-deal Brexit, Mrs Foster said: “I

sometimes wonder have people ever

been in negotiations when they take

things off the table before they get to

the end of a negotiation. We are in a

negotiation to get the best deal for the

people of the UK. You don’t take things

off the table and we have learned that

over quite some time.”

She accused Mr Varadkar of orches-

trating “project fear mark II” as the

Central Bank of Ireland issued a

warning that a no-deal Brexit could

shatter the country’s economic growth

and cost its economy 34,000 jobs.

In its quarterly bulletin, the bank

said growth in a no-deal scenario

would be just 0.7 per cent in 2020,

compared with 4.1 per cent if Brexit did

not happen. In blunt exchanges with

some of Stormont’s political leaders,

Mr Johnson was accused of meeting

concerns about the impact on Northern

Ireland of a no-deal Brexit with “bluff

and bluster”.

Mary Lou McDonald, the Sinn Fein

president, accused the PM of being

“complacent” about the damage that

she said Brexit could inflict on the is-

land of Ireland. “[It] seems to us that he

has set the compass for a disorderly and

a crash Brexit, we have challenged him

very strongly on that policy,” she said.

“We set out very clearly that this

would be catastrophic for the Irish

economy, for Irish livelihoods, for our

society, for our politics and for our

peace accord.”

Nichola Mallon, SDLP deputy leader,

said Mr Johnson was “hurtling” the

region toward a “catastrophic” no-deal

Brexit. “It is very clear he views and

understands the situation through the

eyes of the DUP,” she said.

Liam Halligan: Page 16

Eilis O’Hanlon: Page 16

Johnson demands that

backstop is binned before

entering Brexit talks, but

Varadkar won’t cave in

Portraits of Queen taken down at Stormont ‘to appease nationalists’

By Danielle Sheridan
POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT

PORTRAITS of the Queen have been
removed from government offices in
Northern Ireland in case they upset
workers, it emerged last night.
It comes after a senior Northern Ire-
land Office (NIO) civil servant was paid
£10,000 in compensation for being of-
fended at having to walk past portraits
of Her Majesty and the Duke of Edin-
burgh.
It is understood that the portraits

were replaced with a photograph of the

Queen meeting the late Sinn Féin vice

president and former deputy first min-

ister Martin McGuinness.

In a statement, the Northern Ireland

Secretary, Julian Smith, said that al-

though he had a picture of Her Majesty

in his private office, the NIO “takes its

obligations under the Northern Ireland

Act and fair employment legislation se-

riously”.

He added: “I also recognise the im-

portance of the Northern Ireland Office

being an open and inclusive place to

work, able to attract highly skilled peo-

ple from across all parts of our commu-

nity in Northern Ireland.”

When the matter was put to Boris

Johnson yesterday on his first official

visit to Northern Ireland as Prime Min-

ister, it was said he appeared “puzzled”.

Lord Empey, a veteran unionist poli-

tician who was present at the meeting

in Stormont House when the issue was

discussed, said: “He immediately

looked puzzled and looked around in

each direction for some guidance from

officials on either side of him. One in-

tervened with a comment about it be-

ing a personnel issue. He clearly wasn’t

aware of it ... he was clearly a bit sur-

prised, is how I would put it.”

However Sammy Wilson, a senior

DUP MP, lambasted the Northern Ire-

land Office as “a nest of republican-

pleasing vipers” and called on Mr

Smith to “demand that they be resur-

rected” if they have been taken down.

“Even though those pictures are al-

lowed, it wouldn’t surprise me if the

Northern Ireland Office said, ‘Let’s

make this a neutral working place.’ But

what they are doing is actually pander-

ing to the Republicans,” he said.

Mr Wilson’s requests were echoed

by Kate Hoey, the Northern Ireland-

born Labour MP. “If this is true then it

is quite a shocking situation that in a

part of the United Kingdom, in a Gov-

ernment office ... pictures of Her Maj-

esty have been removed,” she said.

“Clearly whoever made this decision

needs to be reprimanded, and I hope

that the new Secretary of State imme-

diately demands that they be replaced.”

Lord Empey added: “Given it’s a UK

Government department and Stor-

mont House is part of the Northern Ire-

land Office which is a Whitehall

department, I would have thought it

not unreasonable that you would ex-

pect to see a portrait of the head of

state.”

Politics

Happy worker Liz Truss, the new International Trade Secretary, takes a call at her desk in Whitehall, with the flag for the Board of Trade, featuring a ship flying an ensign,

behind her. In her in-tray is a copy of The Telegraph. She yesterday tweeted that she had spoken to Simon Birmingham, the Australian trade minister, to talk about a deal.

Pledge of £300m broke election

rules, claims Welsh politician

By Camilla Tominey

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

A WELSH Assembly member has

called for an immediate investigation

into whether Boris Johnson broke

purdah rules by announcing funding

for Wales two days before the Brecon

and Radnorshire by-election.

Delyth Jewell, of Plaid Cymru, has

written to Mark Sedwill, the Cabinet

Secretary, accusing Mr Johnson and

Alun Cairns, the Welsh Secretary,

of breaking the ministerial code by

pledging £300 million for growth

deals in devolved nations on Tuesday.

“It would appear to me that the Prime

Minister and Secretary of State for

Wales have broken Cabinet Office

rules by using public resources for

party political campaigning during an

election period,” she wrote.

But an official spokesman said:

“The Government announcement

covered Scotland, Wales and Northern

Ireland.”

Although the Lib Dems are still the

1-8 favourites to win the seat, last night

Betfair shortened the odds on a

Conservative winner to 6-1 from 45-1.

MP unseated

Every child has been

told by their teacher not

to swing on their chair.

Andrea Jenkyns MP

shows exactly why. The

Conservative member

for Morley & Outwood

told Twitter: “That’s

the last time I swing on

my chair during a

meeting! Whiplash

and concussion...”

Hardline Tory

MPs vow to halt

revisited deal

Schools could

serve a Brexit

turkey twizzler

By Christopher Hope
and Theodora Louloudis

DOZENS of hardline Brexiteer MPs are
vowing to vote down the Withdrawal
Agreement even if it does not include
the backstop, after Boris Johnson sug-
gested there will be a transition period.
Mark Francois, the vice-chairman of
the European Research Group (ERG) of
Tory MPs, warned of a “running Parlia-
mentary war probably for at least a
month” if Mr Johnson tries to force the
agreement through the Commons.
The Prime Minister has repeatedly
stressed that he wants the EU to agree
to remove the 200-page section cover-
ing the Northern Ireland backstop in
Mrs May’s Withdrawal Agreement to
get the deal approved by MPs. How-
ever Mr Francois said that Tory mem-
bers of the ERG on the backbenches

• now understood to be around 60 –
  would vote down any agreement.
  He told today’s Chopper’s Brexit
  Podcast: “Even if you took the backstop
  element out of the Bill you are still talk-
  ing about a very substantial Bill.”
  Mr Johnson sparked concern about
  his plans on Brexit when he said on
  Tuesday on a visit to Wales that the UK
  could stay in the customs union and
  single market for another two years.

By Christopher Hope

CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT

TURKEY twizzlers could be back on

school dinner menus because of food

shortages in the event of a no-deal exit

from the European Union, after the

Government issued new guidance.

Cooks would have “to adapt menus

to allow for product substitution” if

Britain leaves without a deal on Oct 31,

the advice warns.

The guidance – “Advice for schools

on how to prepare for Brexit” – noted

that “schools have significant flexibili-

ties within the school food standards”,

and advises that schools and local au-

thorities should contact food suppliers

to “ensure they are planning for poten-

tial impacts of a no-deal scenario”.

Schools would have to seek “reassur-

ance on the ability of suppliers to con-

tinue to meet nutritional standards and

to accommodate special dietary needs

and allergens when introducing any

substitute products”.

Jamie Oliver launched a high-profile

campaign back in 2005 to ban “turkey

twizzlers” from school menus.

Schools should continue with “nor-

mal arrangements for medical supplies

to support pupils with health condi-

tions”, the guidance added.

‘You know Ireland isn’t

going to be bullied on this

issue, I think we are going to

stick by our position’

‘It is quite shocking that

in a Government office

pictures of Her Majesty

have been removed’

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