Boris Johnson criticises Sunak’s Northern Ireland deal

Boris Johnson has made his first comments on Rishi Sunak’s protocol deal. In a speech at the Global Soft Power Summit in the Queen Elizabeth II Centre, the former prime minister has criticised the agreement – titled the ‘Windsor framework’ – saying he will find it ‘difficult’ to vote for it. Johnson said he had ‘mixed feelings’ about the deal, saying the original Protocol arrangement was ‘all my fault’ but querying whether Sunak’s new deal is all he claims it to be.

Johnson said it was not the UK taking back control: ‘I’m conscious I’m not going to be thanked for saying this, but I think it is my job to do so: we must be clear about what is really going on here. This is not about the UK taking back control, and although there are easements this is really a version of the solution that was being offered last year to Liz Truss when she was Foreign Secretary.