Boris Johnson has criticized Rishi Sunak’s deal on post-Brexit trade in Northern Ireland, but the former British prime minister admitted that many people want to “move” out of line with Brussels.
Although Johnson said he would find it “extremely difficult” to vote for the Windsor framework, Sunak has scored a critical victory by splitting parts of the party’s Eurosceptic right in support of the new deal.
In a speech on Thursday Johnson admitted that the public wanted to see a deal to end the constant fighting with the EU. “He does not want other ructions, I totally get that,” he told the British “soft power” summit in London.
Like many Tory Eurosceptics, the former prime minister regretted the fact that the Sunak deal would leave Northern Ireland subject to some EU laws relating to the single market for goods, saying it would be a “drag anchor on differences”.
But he did not confirm whether he would vote against the deal – instead of abstaining – and Sunak’s supporters believe that the big Tory rebellion on this issue is no longer in danger.
The party’s Eurosceptic right has traditionally been hostile to almost any agreement between the UK government and the EU. But the divide was evident on Tuesday evening when two former Eurosceptic rebels – Peter Bone and Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker – cheered reporters on the prime minister’s success.
“Everyone was very, very supportive,” Baker said.
The positive mood in the party was evident in the “away day” for MPs on Thursday held at the site of Sunak’s diplomatic victory in Windsor, where the party was urged to unite ahead of next year’s election.
Even the most skeptical MPs about the Sunak deal, which would eliminate customs checks on trade between mainland Great Britain and Northern Ireland, have stopped short of condemning the framework.
He instead asked for more time to study the deal, which was announced on Monday, ahead of a vote expected later this month.
Simon Clarke, a former cabinet minister, admitted the new framework had introduced “improvements” to the previous protocol, agreed in 2019. But there were also “real questions” about its implications, he said.
Members of the hardline Brexiter European Research Group also said they would wait to see what Northern Ireland’s pro-UK Democratic Unionist party (DUP) decides on the framework.
DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said the party continued to “have concerns” about trading arrangements.
If Sunak’s deal undermines the Eurosceptic right, it would mark a significant development in a party that has been torn apart for more than 30 years by bitter squabbling over its attitude to the EU.
One figure in the party’s centrist, one-nation wing, Wimbledon MP Stephen Hammond, said the Conservative MPs appeared to be “very happy” with what the prime minister had discussed.
“I think on the conservative side of the party, this is a deal where there is considerable unanimity on the measure of achievement,” Hammond said.
One former pro-European cabinet minister said the prime minister had “separated the ERG”. “This is a big moment,” said the former minister.
Figures in the party attributed Sunak’s success to winning more concessions from the European side than expected. Among them is the “Stormont brake”, which gives the Assembly of Northern Ireland a say in the update to EU goods regulations in exceptional circumstances. This was more than Tory MPs had hoped for and far beyond what Brussels had said it would be able to do.
However, criticism of the deal is still possible. One senior ERG figure insisted a government document describing the deal was “very lopsided” and that MPs would have to pass a decision on the deal.
“People should read EU documents,” said a senior MP, referring to a separate explanatory document published by Brussels. “It’s very different.”
However, in the absence of an immediate reaction, the deal and the government’s success in winning over some Brexiters raised hopes that Sunak could resolve other thorny bilateral issues with the EU.
The prime minister told MPs this week that the UK would continue to work with the EU in areas including research collaboration, strengthening sanctions against Russia, energy security and clandestine migration.