Henry McDonald: Exit stage left Boris, enter Dublin-EU wishful thinking

Barely an hour after the Prime Minister announced he was stepping down, the SDLP and the Irish Government were out praying for deliverance.

Colum Eastwood suggested it was not only time for Boris to exit stage left but for the Conservative Government to leave the building and call off their 12-year show.

The Foyle MP said a Labour Government was now the best option for Britain, Northern Ireland, the Irish Republic, the European Union and the United States.

“Relationships across these islands and outcomes for the people we represent would be far better served by a new administration led by the Labour,” Mr Eastwood said.

It is true that Keir Starmer has indicated Labour might propose a No Confidence vote in Mr Johnson if he remains as a lame duck Prime Minister next week, and that if Boris failed to get support in the Commons, this could trigger a general election.

Yet that scenario is almost certainly not going to transpire simply because Mr Johnson only loses such a vote if enough Tory MPs back the No Confidence motion.

Tories however, like turkeys, are not going to vote for Christmas. Even those MPs who rebelled against the Prime Minister last month are hardly willing to precipitate a general election in which their seats could be in danger.

Keir Starmer is not likely to come riding in on a white charger to save the UK from itself and lance the Brexit boil. Even in the unlikely event that he wins the next general election with a majority, Mr Starmer has also indicated he is not going to unravel the UK’s exit from the European Union. Nor is he prepared to enter into a pact with Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP let alone support her demand for a second Scottish independence referendum.

The Irish Government hopes are a tad more realistic with Taoiseach Micheal Martin calling for a new Prime Minister to reset Anglo-Irish relations as well as repair EU ties.

Looking at the runners and riders on the card for the Tory leadership race, none of the main contenders are liable to be more compliant with Dublin and Brussels’ demands over the Protocol.

Liz Truss was the minister who proposed the Bill aimed at overriding those elements of the Protocol unionists say are Union-threatening while the likes of Ben Wallace have experience of military service in Northern Ireland and perhaps understand the complexities of this place better than some previous occupants of 10 Downing Street.

With the new Secretary of State reassuring the DUP yesterday that the Bill to radically alter the Protocol is still on course it seems elation over ‘Borisexit’ has simply produced more europhiliac wishful thinking.