The historic illiteracy of Anglo-Irish relations that pervades the United Kingdom’s political class is no secret. Just this week Conservative MP Owen Paterson, a member of the hardline Eurosceptic European Research Group, name-checked Irish revolutionary Michael Collins in the House of Commons, trying to win support from fellow MPs for Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal. Paterson quoted Collins: “Now, as one of the signatories of the document, I naturally recommend its acceptance. Equally I do not recommend it for less than it is. In my opinion it gives us freedom, not the ultimate freedom that all nations desire and develop to, but the freedom to achieve it.”

Source: The Irish Times October 25, 2019 00:38 UTC