We used to have statesmen like Lord Castlereagh

[Leo Varadkar had quoted Lord Castlereagh approvingly, saying he had made “a significant contribution to peace and prosperity in Europe”].

It is not, however, surprising given that Castlereagh has been largely ignored by unionist politicians in Northern Ireland for decades.

There are at least three reasons for this:

First, as a member of the aristocracy he is representative of what the demagogue Ian Paisley Senior denounced as ‘Big House’ unionism.

Second, he was a liberal conservative who, for example, advocated Catholic emancipation years before it finally happened.

Third, and probably most offensive to the DUP in the present context, he was a good European who as Foreign Secretary was largely responsible for the settlement of Europe after the Napoleonic Wars and a champion of European cooperation.

This is the calibre of statesman which used to come out of what is now Northern Ireland. I ask unionists to contrast this with the ignorant comments of Ian Paisley Junior and others in the DUP directed both at Dublin and the EU in recent weeks.

To them I say: you can do better.

Adam Moore, Conservative, BT6