Britain cannot ignore the US on Ireland BY CIARÁN QUINN “Ireland owes Britain nothing”. The truth that made a video go viral. It was an answer from playwright and critic Bonnie Greer to a BBC Question Time discussion on Brexit. That was October 2019, the threat of a hard border and no-deal Brexit was in the air. To the British Government, Ireland was irrelevant in the promised land of Brexit. Ms Greer reminded the audience that her home town Chicago dyed the river green on St. Patrick’s Day. “The US is Irish”, she said. It was clear the US would support Ireland and the peace agreements over Brexit. The ‘special relationship’ between the US and Britain was a fiction from the days of Thatcher and Reagan. A cover for a shared political agenda. The elevation of Anglo-American relations was a British delusion. Without an empire, they believed they had an equal seat at the table. It was never a relationship of equals. Brexit was to bring back Global Britain. The hollow rhetoric was of a return to the days of an empire long lost. Free from Brussels, Britain would build new trading relationships with their special friend the US. It would be the quickest and easiest trade deal ever. High on their own rhetoric, the British government ignored the concerns of the US Congress and Irish America. Speaker Pelosi led a congressional delegation to Ireland and Britain. They visited the border and met with business and community leaders. In London, they met with the Brexiteers and schooled them in the American political system. It was not in the gift of the President to strike a trade deal; that was the responsibility of Congress and a vital step in the process was the powerful Ways and Means Committee. No support from that committee meant no trade deal. The Chair of the Ways and Means Committee is Massachusetts Congressman Rep. Richard Neal, also the co-chair of the Congressional Friends of Ireland and longstanding supporter of peace and progress in Ireland.
A resolution was introduced in the House of Representatives co-signed by Rep. Tom Suozzi (Dem) and Rep. Peter King (Rep) calling for the full implementation of outstanding agreements, including Stormont House, and ensuring that there would be no US-British Trade Deal if the Good Friday Agreement was undermined or a hard border imposed due to Brexit.
Brexit was to bring back Global Britain. The hollow rhetoric of a return to the days of an empire long lost The resolution was passed unanimously in an incredibly divided house. A subsequent resolution was passed in the US Senate again with unanimous bipartisan support. The resolution was pushed by Senator Menendez, the chair of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee. As the British Government moved ahead with its plans to close down investigations into the past, Congress members sent a letter to Boris Johnson outlining their concerns Then along came President Biden. He had been Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when they held a hearing into the killing of Pat Finucane and was a member of the Friends of Ireland Caucus. The G7 meeting in Cornwall was on the stage for the opening act of Global Britain. Boris Johnston with home advantage would be front and centre of world leaders. In the week before the meeting, the US Administration issued a demarche to the British government. • Boris Johnston
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ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 anphoblacht
