Former minister issues unprompted denial of 'secret agenda' within the Northern Ireland Office
Steve Baker has claimed that the Northern Ireland arm of the UK government is not operating to its own 'secret agenda’ – as he defended his role in the Windsor Framework in a BBC interview.
Some unionists in privately argue that the department is more concerned about placating the Irish government than acting in the interests of the UK or Northern Ireland.
“I'm not aware of any secret agendas, if they're secret they've been kept from ministers and boards. They're trying to do the things set out in published documents and they do a good job every day", he told the BBC's Nolan Show on Friday.
The former NIO minister of State had been asked what he thought of the office. He said NIO officials are “really terrific people who care very very much about Northern Ireland.
“Most of them… a good proportion of NIO officials are from Northern Ireland. And a good proportion of them have Irish names with Irish spellings”, Mr Baker said.
He argued that everything officials do respects the Good Friday Agreement and they are “trying to do the things which are set out in published documents and they do a good job every day”.
He also defended his role in the Windsor Framework, and said not signing it would have made the entire UK “look like a clown show”.
“Not only the European Union, but the rest of the world, would have come to believe that we were incapable of concluding any agreement”, he said.
The former Tory MP, who lost his seat at the general election, said that he was excluded from the negotiations on the deal and had considered resigning. However, he accepted the substance of the deal, describing it as “a very hard compromise for unionists and Euro-sceptics, including me”.
He said he didn’t like the implications of leaving EU law in place in Northern Ireland – particularly in relation to animal movements.
“I’d like to do better, I’ve said so. But the only way to get to something better is to move forward with what’s been agreed and show the world – including the European Union – that we’re capable of respecting other people’s legitimate interests while being resolute on our own”, he explained.