Dear Boris,
You are probably a little bit disappointed that Donald Tusk has rejected your bid to remove the backstop.
Then again, the European Council President had little option when you did not propose any credible alternative to replace it.
You in turn hit back, claiming the UK was still ready to negotiate an alternative and that no infrastructure, checks or controls would be placed at the border Britain imposed on this island.
The reality is you are talking pie-in-the-sky about a frontier where hundreds of people have died and where tens of thousands of people in the surrounding counties could lose their jobs as a result of Brexit.
To be kind, your knowledge and understanding of the border are not the best seeing that you once compared it to the boundaries between London boroughs, so it’s not surprising Mr Tusk treated your proposals with the contempt they deserve.
It is believed approximately 1,000 British service personnel died in Northern Ireland – when suicides and accidents are included – during a conflict that claimed around 3,500 lives.
The official Ministry of Defence figure for services deaths during the Troubles is 763. Many of them died defending the border you compared to the boundary between Islington, Camden and Westminster.
During some training a few weeks ago I spoke to several former Royal Marines who would gladly explain to you the Irish border is slightly different from London borough boundaries.
Some still suffer hearing difficulties after surviving IRA bombs in South Armagh while one, John, described seeing his commanding officer blown into a field by a remote-controlled land mine.
I could be wrong but I cannot find any evidence of guerilla warfare in leafy Islington or trendy Camden or traffic wardens being shot dead with high-powered sniper rifles.
You probably don’t know it, but on Tuesday several PSNI officers were lucky to escape with their lives when a bomb exploded close to the border in Co Fermanagh after they were lured into a trap by either the Continuity IRA or the New IRA.
PSNI Deputy Chief Constable Stephen Martin said “the threat from Northern Ireland-related terrorism has not decreased and has remained at severe since 2009”.
These terrorists are 100% behind you Boris when you push for your “do or die” hard Brexit and the re-imposition of a border will give them the perfect excuse to renew the killing.
Regards, Pat.
