Have British Tories Thrown Jeffrey Donaldson’s Democratic Unionist party to the Wolves? Is the”Windsor Framework” the “NI Protocol” in Different Clothes?
Readers may wonder :
Has British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak thrown the Democratic Unionist party of British-occupied Ireland to the wolves? Early indications suggest the answer is Yes.
The cause? Brexit.
Sunak’s former boss Boris Johnson’s negotiated a 2019 “Oven Ready Brexit” which featured the “Northern Ireland Protocol” (NIP) in 2019. This facilitated a landslide Tory General Election victory in December of that year. Things were different in the six-county bit of Ireland (Northern Ireland) and Scotland. In both of these locations, the Brexiteer forces were soundly rejected by the voters. Sunak now claims the NIP has been replaced by the “Windsor Framework”.
Establishment media outlets are ecstatic, claiming the Third British Brexit Prime Minister of 2021 has “Done the Impossible”
https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2023/02/28/windsor-framework-brexit-deal-what-the-papers-say/
There is one significant dissenting note, which is almost certainly closer to the truth. It comes from the outstanding British Guardian cartoonist Steve Bell :
We can all agree that “the devil will be in the detail”. However all early signs indicate that the European Union has got exactly what it wanted. Compared with the 2019 British General Election, Sunak’s Tories have entered electoral hell. The data below comes from “Stats for Lefties”, and it is robust. These numbers indicate a Labour Party landslide victory. Sunak’s Brexit Tories lag well behind the second-placed Scottish National party, snarling in a dogfight with the anti-Brexit right-wing Liberal Democrat party for third or fourth place in the next Westminster House of Commons. An Opinion Poll is only a snapshot, and things can change. But the British state is not run by blockheads. The people that matter know the tories are probably toast – and that the voters living in the British state massively reject Brexit.
Support for rejoining the EU has grown steadily, with the latest polls showing a majority of 57 to 43 per cent for reversing Brexit.
British Polling Expert John Curtice https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/brexit-probably-less-popular-than-any-point-since-2016-referendum-says-polling-expert-john-curtice_uk_6362641ae4b08fd5e9578ceb
“If you look at YouGov’s question which asked people ‘in hindsight do you think Brexit was the right or wrong decision?’ they’ve increasingly been getting more people saying it was the wrong decision,” Curtice said.
“I think the truth is that Brexit is now probably less popular than it has been at any point since June 2016. But people like me are being cautious.”
Sunak must call a General Election by December 2024 – he cannot wait forever.
.
Labour lead by 27pts. Tories would win just 26 MPs (-339).
LAB 51% (-)
CON 24% (-)
LD 9% (-1)
REF 7% (+1)
GRN 5% (-)
SNP 3% (-)
Lab 536 seats (+334), Con 26 (-339) Via
@RedfieldWilton
, 26 Feb (+/- since 18 Feb)
Eighteen Six-County (Northern Ireland) MP’s are not listed in the above graphic. The Democratic Unionist party is likely to enter a vicious civil war over the Windsor Framework/ NI Protocol (WFNIP). Two of the eight Westminster DUP MP’s – far-right neanderthals Ian Paisley Junior and Sammy Wilson – are already banging their Orange Drums against Sunak’s WFNIP. Turbulence and instability will continue.
John Meehan February 28 2023
Tomás Ó Flatharta 
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