It seems that Boris Johnson’s interventions in the Sunday papers haven’t gone down too well with some members of his party. Tory grandee George Osborne appeared on the Andrew Neil Show on Channel 4 today to issue a scathing rejoinder to his longtime rival. The former chancellor questioned the sincerity of Johnson’s commitment to Northern Ireland by pointing out that Rishi Sunak merely inherited the ‘mess’ of the contentious Protocol. He also noted how Johnson has acquired, er, something of a reputation for disloyalty, having agitated against multiple Prime Ministers before for personal gain:
I think Rishi Sunak should be applauded for trying to solve this mess from the past that he’s inherited. But he mustn’t make the mistake that basically Theresa May made and David Cameron and I made before which is to think that Boris Johnson is interested in the issues. Boris Johnson is interested in becoming Prime Minister again and as you saw with the Brexit referendum or you say with the Chequers agreement if you can remember that under Theresa May, if you wait for Boris Johnson to do the sort of grown up sensible thing, he’s not going to do it if he thinks it is a political opportunity to cause trouble.
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