Sunak decides the protocol sucks and the single market is great, after all

theguardian.com:

H istory comes at you fast these days. Many of us could have sworn we saw a man claiming to be the prime minister turn up in Northern Ireland on Tuesday morning. Grinning from ear to ear. All uninfectious enthusiasm that invariably teetered into the annoying and patronising.

This guy was telling us how wonderful the EU single market was and how lucky Northern Ireland was to remain part of it. So it couldn’t have been Rishi Sunak. The Sunak we know and don’t really love campaigned vigorously to get the UK out of the EU and the single market. Had been adamant that Brexit wouldn’t be Brexit unless the UK left the single market. Anything else would be a sellout.

Many of us could also have sworn we saw another man claiming to be the prime minister talking to the same Northern Irish audience about the dangers of the protocol. How it had been a clear and present danger to the Good Friday agreement. How no right-minded person who wanted peace on the Irish mainland could have tolerated it a moment longer.

Only this man also couldn’t have been Sunak. Because Rish! had fought the 2019 general election campaign under Boris Johnson’s leadership on the platform that the NI protocol was the Brexit miracle cure. And guess what? Sunak had gone on to become The Convict’s chancellor without ever admitting to any misgivings about the NI protocol over the next three years. And then, suddenly, this lookalike pops up saying it had been a rubbish idea all along.

It was all most confusing. Odd, even. Then, Brexit can do that to you. Take Lord Frost. Normally he can’t wait to rush into print. A camera or microphone is like crystal meth to him. No chance to prove himself a complete moron is ever passed up. Only Frosty the No Man could rubbish a