‘Erasing Welsh nationhood’: Boris Johnson criticised over ‘one country’ push at G7 summit
A Plaid Cymru MP has criticised Boris Johnson after he pushed for the UK to be recognised as “one country” at the G7 summit.
The Prime Minister had reportedly told diplomats to refer to the UK as one country rather than four nations.
He also hit out at European leaders for failing to agree that the UK is “a single country” in talks with President Macron of France.
Dwyfor-Meirionnydd MP Liz Saville-Roberts said that the Prime Minister’s claim that the UK was one country amounted to a bid to “erase Welsh nationhood”.
Her comments came as the Prime Minister and President Macron clashed at the G7 summit. They are alleged to have fallen out over the Northern Ireland protocol which prevents processed meat, such as sausages, from being sent to the province from Britain after the end of the month.
“How would you like it if the French courts stopped you moving Toulouse sausages to Paris?” Johnson said.
The French president claimed that it was “not a good comparison because Paris and Toulouse are part of the same country”, according to a UK government source.
Boris Johnson later told Sky News: “I’ve talked to some of our friends here today, who do seem to misunderstand that the UK is a single country, a single territory. I just need to get that into their heads.”
The French President’s office later said that Macron had merely been pointing out that mainland Britain and Northern Ireland were on two different islands, after Mr Johnson asked him whether he would accept a ban on movements of sausages between Toulouse and Paris.
‘Bombastic’
In an article for the Sunday Times, Liz Saville-Roberts added that world leaders “should be wary of taking bombastic lectures” from Boris Johnson until he starts leading by example.
She was responding to an article written by the Prime Minister in The Times on Thursday 10 June in which he wrote that “the G7 summit is a chance to show the world our values: openness, freedom, democracy”.
“According to the Prime Minister, the G7 summit is a chance to show the world our values: ‘openness, freedom, democracy’. But for Mr Johnson to have any credibility, he must start at home,” she wrote.
“His government and party are doing anything but demonstrate the UK’s openness or respect for individual freedom, with the Home Secretary threatening to use force against desperate migrants, EU nationals detained and fingerprinted on arrival and asylum seekers housed in uninhabitable barracks.
“It is fair to say that Boris Johnson is hardly known for his respect for democracy either. From illegally dismissing parliament to avoid scrutiny, to his government breaking the law by awarding contracts to their friends, democratic values are shown scant respect in Westminster. Tory donors are being ennobled to take their place in an unelected second chamber, while taxpayers’ money is funnelled to affluent Tory seats in the name of ‘levelling up’.”
She added: “Put simply, the international community should be wary of taking bombastic lectures from a Prime Minister who has spent the last few years undermining our vaunted, alleged values at every turn.”
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So unlike Boris to make stupid statements. With England, Scotland and Wales currently competing in the Euros as separate nations he decides it is the perfect time to insist the UK is only one nation. I know he is more of a rugby fan but then he should have known the original rugby tournament was called the Home NATIONS Championship from 1883 to 1909 before becoming the Five NATIONS Championship and then the Six NATIONS Championship.
Personally I think he’s doing more for nationalist causes in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland than anyone else. Long may he continue!
Yn Union(crosslingual pun intended)! Let the manbaby speak! Plaid should let his nonsensical rhetoric float gently to the ears of the Welsh public, not reflexively jump on each comment, thus painting themselves as reactionary ideologues (which most of them are not, but that’s how they get portrayed). Keep pushing a positive vision for Cymru fydd, let the old bulldogs grumble and bark and we’ll be free before we expect. This current arrangement makes no sense, the Welsh public sense it. All we need is a rational, reasonable ADULT to communicate this message.
If Boris wants to force us to Choose between Wales and the UK I know eich I would pick everytime, Cymru am byth 🏴
I meant which I would pick
Boris’ main fear and target is Scotland. He fears the prospect of Scots tearing up the UKGB. Then of course there’s a slightly less immediate prospect of an United Ireland but nevertheless something of a prospect when EU persists with its concept of a trade border in the Irish Sea and the demographic in N.Ireland sliding gently towards a positive stance on unification. Last and definitely least is dear old Wales, mainly because we still retain a high proportion of servile deferential types who have a big dependency complex towards London, the Queen and all sorts of symbols of Anglo… Read more »
Go woke, lose vote, as happened to Leanne. Things will be different when Plaid Cymru take a leaf out of Plaid Wrecsam’s book. You’ve hit on a great pamphlet title there. Hope someone in Plaid has read it; Nuts and Bolts, building back after the Tories.
If I’m identified with any kind of suggestion you can bet your last buck that the Party will seek out anything, just anything, that doesn’t resemble my input. My unwillingness to suck up the prevailing orthodoxy leads to instant rejection.
Regarding trade between Britain and Northern Ireland it was Boris himself who signed the agreement with the EU.
Throwing N. Ireland under the bus was worth it to get Brexit done, according to Julia Hartley Brewer. See You Tube’s Max Robespierre. I wonder what the DUP think of this?
Probably not unexpected, after dealing with the likes of Peter Hain previously.
Being deceitful, seems almost a requirement to being either a successful MP or Senior Civil Servant, as this is the overall impression we, the general public, have.
Johnson was desperate to kill of May’s Backstop so submitted the first drafts of the Withdrawal Agreement and Protocol on 2nd October 2019. It was rejected so he met Varadkar on the 10th and he and Juncker signed the amended agreement on the 17th.
He did not just sign it or read it he wrote the damned thing. At least his office did. The fact it was enacted in parliament by 521 votes to 73 and signed by the Queen mean he isn’t just breaking an international treaty but part of the UK constitution.
Openness, freedom, democracy? My country is not free, SPTP voting is a travesty the House of Lords STILL has hereditary peers and the English PM is a jackass.
Well said Liz but I wouldn’t worry – the interenational community are well aware of the sort of man Johnson is. He’ll be remembered for the break-up of the United Kingdom and finally bringing about the end of the British/English Empire after 700years.
The sooner the better.
Was it not Churchill that exchanged the Empire for WW2 fighting funds and more?
One could start by an objective to have a Welsh Passport.
I read that when Rex Britannia came to Britain his passport was seized before deportation?
Only a charlatan like Bunter Johnson would insist the four nations be referred to as the UK, yet demand EU deference of flag when applying for a rebate of our own money whilst hoisting the UK flag over Crown buildings?