Relations between London and Dublin aren’t at their best, given the ongoing war of words about the Northern Irish Protocol. But Mr S was still nevertheless surprised to see that RTE – Ireland’s state broadcaster – has today published a comment piece by a leading academic and Guardian contributor which seriously floats the idea of a British invasion. According to Professor Cathal McCall of Queen’s University Belfast, the likely election of a Sinn Féin Taoiseach in the Republic of Ireland means that re-annexation could seriously become UK government policy. This will be achieved either the leadership of Boris Johnson or one of his likely successors.
McCall suggests that if, as the polls indicate, Sinn Féin becomes the largest party in the Irish capital at the next election then two possible trajectories are open to the government in Westminster. One is that the British government respects the ‘democratic decisions taken’; the other is that they do not and the republican victors are derided ‘as terrorists and bandits who are not fit for government.’
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