Arlene Foster is now reduced to living with, or selling, the Boris border betrayal

This is Jeffrey Donaldson speaking on September 11, 2019: “A specific NI-only backstop would be such a fundamental breach of the principle of consent it would alter the relationship with the rest of the UK so fundamentally that unionists could not operate a system that did that.

“If you want to protect the GFA remember it’s cross-community in nature. It requires the buy-in of unionists and there isn’t a single unionist politician or party that supports a NI-only backstop or the current backstop.”

Speaking to me in December, Peter Robinson said: “Unless significantly amended the present deal would imperil the Union not only because of the Irish Sea border but more seriously it shifts the political axis from primarily East-West to North South. For a whole range of key economic matters the EU context will propel those who need representation to look to Dublin rather than London.”

Former UUP leader Sir Reg Empey had similar concerns: “This is materially different than anything that has gone before. If it cannot be reversed during the negotiations during the transition period then Northern Ireland’s centre of gravity could gradually move in a Dublin/Brussels direction. This cannot be done without constitutional consequences.”

Yet here we are, a year on and Arlene Foster — in an interview with Sky News on Saturday — has accepted she cannot reverse Boris Johnson’s deal, a deal she had previously described as “bad for Northern Ireland economically and will weaken the foundations of this great United Kingdom”.

She — all of unionism, indeed — is lumbered with a deal which does significant constitutional damage to NI’s relationship with the rest of the UK; a deal which is, in fact, immeasurably worse than Theresa May’s original deal — which Johnson, Rees-Mogg and others persuaded the DUP to help them destroy.

I remember being at the 2018 DUP conference when Johnson assured the audience he would never allow NI to be reduced to semi-colonial status. I wrote quite a few times in this column that I didn’t and wouldn’t trust Johnson to put the interests of local unionism above the interests of English nationalism: indeed, I described him as the sort of man who would take your Alsatian for a walk and return with a one-legged, emasculated chiwuawua.

Quite why some elements of the DUP were/are in awe of him is beyond me. Maybe they like the fleeting excitement moths must feel when they circle a brilliant light — just before it singes their wings.

Mind you, I never understood why the DUP put all its eggs in the ERG basket when it signed the confidence and supply deal with the government in June 2017. The problem with cosying-up to a Conservative vehicle for English nationalism (instead of one-nation Conservatism) is that it was inevitable the relationship would perish in the ERG’s Holy Grail of a clean-break Brexit.

Dumping the DUP and altering NI’s position within the post-Brexit UK was a price the ERG — along with the vast majority of Conservative MPs — proved willing to pay.

By the time Johnson booted it in the head it was too late for the DUP to look to others for support, because the crazy uber-unionism it had pursued since June 2017 meant the doors it needed to knock were locked and bolted.

I’ve heard DUP representatives blame the EU, the Irish government, Alliance, the SDLP, SF and ‘anti-Brexiteers in general’ for the present mess in which they find themselves. But here’s the thing: the ultimate act of betrayal could not have come from anyone but Johnson and his parliamentary party.

It was Johnson who told bare-faced porkies to the DUP conference in November 2018. He did it again last November when he told a local audience to “put in the bin” any letters they received about a border in the Irish Sea.

It was key members of the ERG — including former Secretaries of State Owen Paterson and Theresa Villiers — who promised to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the DUP and protect NI’s constitutional integrity.

It was Dominic Cummings — Johnson’s puppeteer-cum-ventriloquist — who was never able to deny an accusation that he wouldn’t care if Brexit involved the loss of Northern Ireland.

When Arlene Foster was asked in Saturday’s interview whether she would now have to implement a deal she insisted was bad for Northern Ireland and which many in her own party described as a ‘betrayal act’, she responded, “Yes, we do.”

That answer places her in an extraordinarily difficult position, not least because it puts her weakness under the relentless, merciless glare of a Super Trooper spotlight.

After 30 months of propping up a Conservative government — including Johnson’s when he first became Prime Minister — the DUP is now reduced to living with and selling arrangements which Foster and every single DUP representative regard as betrayal.

Worse — very much worse, in fact — she has no guarantee Johnson won’t be polishing new boots for another attack. She knows she can’t trust him.

He doesn’t need her or the DUP. He doesn’t care about the party: just look at how he swats away questions in the House of Commons. If a no deal (still a possibility) damages NI in particular he won’t give a toss. There are no votes for him in NI. And with not a single elected member anywhere here (and no chance of there being one ever again) he has no incentive to try and win votes in NI.

All Foster can do is put on a brave face and be quietly thankful there are so many other things to distract voters’ attention from this whopping embarrassment.

She can take some comfort that no other party within unionism seems able to land a killer blow on, or mount a serious challenge to the DUP.

While there were indications of on-the-ground anger from some sections of loyalism at the end of last year, the chances of overturning Johnson’s deal now are non-existent.

One thing is certain, though, Foster’s critics, internally and externally, are growing in number. And she knows it.

——— ———

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers — and consequently the revenue we receive — we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Ireland and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Alistair Bushe

Editor