Iraq War architect Sir Tony Blair has been secretly working behind the scenes with a major figure behind the Irish banking crash to “fix” issues with Brexit, it has been revealed.
Sir Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern, two former prime ministers seen as bearing responsibility for the Iraq War and the Irish banking crash, respectively, have been secretly working behind the scenes to help fix issues with the Brexit agreement the United Kingdom and the European Union, a British government minister has said.
While both are credited, rightly or wrongly with playing major roles in establishing peace in Northern Ireland, the former leaders have an otherwise questionable political rap sheet, with Sir Tony looked upon with derision for embroiling Britain in a war under dubious pretences and Ahern often viewed as the man who walked Ireland blindly into one of the worst economic disasters in the state’s 100-year history.
However, in the House of Commons on Thursday, Britain’s Northern Ireland minister, Conor Burns, placed on record that it was these two men who have actually been helping him in his attempts to break through political roadblocks with respect to the Brexit agreement, with the apparent aim of restoring a functioning regional government in Northern Ireland.
Regional governance collapsed over the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol of the Brexit agreement earlier this year, with major pro-British party the Democratic Unionists (DUP) effectively pulling out of power-sharing arrangements over fears that the Protocol, which hands significant legal control over the region to the European Union, is cutting off the North from the rest of the United Kingdom.
“I would like to place on record, Mr Speaker, in the House today, my thanks to the former taoiseach [Irish prime minister], Bertie Ahern, and the former prime minister, Sir Tony Blair, for their assistance in the work that I have done over the summer,” Burns told Parliament.
The Tory party politician went on to say that he believed an agreement could be reached with the EU on a renegotiation of the contentious agreement, saying that he recently had “constructive and prolonged” talks with his EU counterpart, Maroš Šefčovič.
While Burns appears to believe he is on the road to success with the Northern Ireland Protocol and been helped to stay on that road by Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern, many will no doubt have misgivings about the involvement of both men in modern politics.
For example, many in Britain still have not forgiven Tony Blair for pushing Britain into the Iraq War. No doubt this lack of forgiveness is partly because Sir Tony has so far refused to really apologise for the conflict, supposedly waged to eliminate so-called Weapons of Mass Destruction which were never found.
Meanwhile, Ahern — who has repeatedly denied allegations that he received inappropriate “payments” while in office — is seen by many in Ireland as the person who led Ireland into the 2008 banking crash, which resulted in the country needing to be bailed out in 2011.
Although Ahern has admitted that he made “mistakes” during his time as Prime Minister, he caused mass outrage in Ireland when in 2015 it appeared that he was trying to shift the blame for the crisis onto the Irish public.
“Anyone could walk into any institution and seem to get any amount of money and this is where the cocky bit came in,” he said in an interview at the time.
“Unfortunately… Joe Soap and Mary Soap, who never had a lot, got the loans for the second house and leveraged the third house off the second house and the fourth on the third, and you know, what are you having yourself,” he added.
The level of public distaste for both figures however does not seem to have caused either too much damage, however, with Blair being handed Britain’s most prestigious knighthood earlier this year.
Ahern, meanwhile, has repeatedly been seen as a future candidate for President of Ireland, though he has tried to shut down these rumours.