Worthless Is a Thing Called Joe

When the late Ballard Berkeley played Major Gowen in the epic comedy series ‘Fawlty Towers’, we laughed at his bungling attitude, his forgetfulness and his ignorant opinions. You see, back then witless folk were the objects of comedy ridicule and light-hearted banter. Today, they’re elected to the most powerful political position on the planet. How else would an octogenarian with obvious failings in the cognitive department continue to make a mockery of America’s once-famed dominance on the global stage by remaining its Head of State?

President Joe Biden has just concluded a four-day visit to the island of Ireland. It began with a fleeting visit to Northern Ireland – a place he is personally in favour of abolishing – where he proceeded to lecture Unionism to embrace a trading scenario that puts them out of their own country’s regulatory orbit when it comes to goods, before departing for an surfeit of paddywhackery south of the border. He was barely a few hours on the Republic’s green and increasingly Sinn Fein-infatuated soil before he succeeded in mixing up New Zealand’s international rugby squad and the infamous Black and Tans from a century ago. The Irish politicos present took it upon themselves to be as nauseatingly obsequious as possible, but instead of looking and sounding like mature statesmen they just gave the impression of being a bunch of sycophantic prats!

I dislike Joe Biden intensely. Not only for his general worldview and endless attempts at environmental virtue-signalling, but also because of his historical attitudes to Northern Ireland – a place I claim paternal ancestral links to and whose place in our Kingdom is a top political priority for me. Back in the 1980s he was one of the most vociferous opponents of extraditing IRA terrorists on the run in the United States. Even when the devastating impact of terrorism hit home in New York in 2001, it didn’t prevent Biden the politician glad-handing various Sinn Fein luminaries – from Gerry ‘I was never in the IRA’ Adams to Rita O’Hare, the Provos’ very own pale imitation of Benidorm’s Sticky Vicky! Two of his closest political allies, Richard Neal and Brendan Boyle, have actually attended conventions organised by those who wish to take Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom. That itself represents a direct assault on the make-up and identity of the United Kingdom. For without Scotland or Northern Ireland, there is no United Kingdom. It’s a simple as that. And as I pointed out to Nick Ferrari on LBC’s Breakfast Show last Wednesday morning, how would American politicians react if, say, Boris Johnson and David Lammy went to a rally in Texas dedicated to the removal of that state from the jurisdiction of the USA? There would, rightly, be uproar. For a US Commander-in-chief or governing administration to show barely-disguised contempt for ANY country’s sovereign integrity is bad enough; to do so towards one of America’s closest cultural and military allies is unforgivable.

As was to be expected, Britain’s Remainer groupies were quick out of the traps to declare Biden’s effective snub of the UK was primarily down to our ‘self-imposed Brexit isolation’. Some of the more seasoned Anglophobic attack dogs in the Irish media also suggested Biden’s visit was rooted in an appreciation of Ireland’s diplomatic manoeuvrings designed to water down a Brexit endeavour fundamentally at odds with his own ideological compass. The first must have missed the multiple trade deals and impending CPTPP accession, whilst the second are oblivious to their serendipitous situation of having a White House ally who is probably the most antagonistically anti-British President to occupy the White House since the War of Independence. When Biden’s faculties were in full alignment (an increasingly rare situation, I grant you), his administration went to great lengths to weaponise the Belfast Agreement as a means of undermining the UK in our fraught negotiations with the European Union. Actual legal texts of that agreement were drowned out by endless schmaltzy recitations of ‘the spirit of the Agreement’ (a.k.a the Agreement says whatever Dublin and Irish republicans want it to say), with Biden being a willing cheerleader in these efforts. To allow him to come to both Belfast and Dublin to preach to others about reconciliation and compromise is tantamount to an arsonist attending a house ablaze dressed up as a fireman!

I don’t know where the emerging geo-political alliances and spheres of influence will end up. What I do know is that, sooner or later, the United States will need military assistance in a region of the world beset by intercommunal strife which could well pose a challenge to Western security and democracy. Who will it call upon then? Steadfastly neutral Ireland that relies on the UK to defend and protect its own airspace? France and Germany that were late to show when it came to providing Ukraine with weapons to defend itself against Russia’s invasion? No! It will be the United Kingdom – the very same United Kingdom this disaster area of a President has been subliminally snubbing, undermining and insulting on numerous occasions. I only hope a successor will not be a Biden protege, prone to regard the Atlantic alliance as a convenience to be cast aside if his inner ‘Irishness’ wants to come racing to the surface. I hope with even more intensity that he won’t be aided and abetted by political friends in thrall to Irish republican objectives and willing to befriend people who have carried out or excused unspeakable crimes against both British and Irish citizens.

My final message goes to those Irish journalists who objected to Biden being lampooned with Irish stereotypes and imagery in the UK press: Much of the tourist souvenirs available in the Republic double down on this sort of thing. Your shops on O’Connell Street in Dublin and St Patrick’s Street in Cork groan under the weight of this tat. You dress up as leprechauns on St Patrick’s Day and at rugby matches.  Why, even one of your major tour operators decorates its coaches with leprechaun transfers (https://www.facebook.com/Paddywagontours/?locale=en_GB). So please, spare us the faux outrage. Either it’s good fun or it’s not. Make your minds up!

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