The Telegraph, January 13, Sammy Wilson MP
Nearly forty years ago Margaret Thatcher swung her handbag at the intransigent bureaucrats and politicians in the EU Commission and won back a massive rebate on the overpayments which the British taxpayers were making to the EU Budget. For this and other acts of political courage and determination she earned the reputation and title of the Iron Lady.
Our Foreign Secretary has modelled herself on Mrs Thatcher. From her tough talking to tank driving, her pride in her country and promotion of it as trade secretary, she has won the admiration of the Conservative Party faithful and is now one of the highest regarded cabinet ministers. However her popularity is not only based on the image she has promoted but also on the effective way she delivered over 70 trade deals in the short period after we left the EU, so silencing the Remain critics who argued that leaving the EU would leave the UK isolated, poorer and bereft of export markets.
She now faces another massive challenge as she starts talks with Maroš Šefčovič. She has to replace the NI Protocol with arrangements which undo the damage to the NI economy, and more importantly ensure that the protocol arrangements which have made NI an annex of the EU, and undermined the sovereignty of the UK government in that part of the UK, are removed. In simple terms she has to demand and secure an agreement which restores NI to being a full part of the UK.
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