Much has been made of Brexit zealot Steve Baker’s sudden conversion to the cause of Anglo-Irish relations.
After years of disregarding legitimate concerns about the impact of Brexit on Northern Ireland, playing hardball in the Brexit negotiations themselves and more recently leading a legislative campaign to disown the divorce deal and specifically the Northern Ireland element of it, Baker has apologised to Dublin and Brussels for the way he and some of his colleagues behaved over the past six years.
He told the Tory party conference that he and other Brexiteers had not shown respect to the “legitimate interests” of Ireland or the EU during the campaign to leave the bloc.
“It’s with humility that I want to accept and acknowledge that I and others did not always behave in a way which encouraged Ireland and the European Union to trust us to accept that they have legitimate interests, legitimate interests that we’re willing to respect, because they do and we are willing to respect them,” he said
Can we take his Damascene conversion at face value? Has his new softer diplomatic stance got something to do with his new posting as junior Northern Ireland minister?
Perhaps that’s a cynical view of things. His friendlier stance is after all echoed by prime minister Liz Truss herself, who seems to be making positive noises about resolving the dispute over the protocol, which has been welcomed by leaders in Dublin and Brussels.
[ Stephen Collins: Steve Baker’s extraordinary Brexit apology opens door to closureOpens in new window ]
Then again these more diplomatic overtures may simply be the actions of a government that is battling on too many fronts and can’t countenance another conflagration, one that could result in a trade war with its main trading partner, the EU.
Remember the great prize of Brexit was always a trade deal with the US, which now seems remote and is barely referred to any more. It certainly won’t get game time in Washington if the dispute over the protocol isn’t resolved, not with the avowedly pro-Irish stance of president Joe Biden.
The UK government’s low tax, low regulation agenda has also been forced into reverse on the back of market scepticism, placing a storm of controversy around the new London administration. If another wheel falls off the Brexit cart, it could be lights out for Truss and co and back to the polls where the Tory party are trailing Labour by 25-30 points.
