You should be rooting for Boris Johnson

On Northern Ireland, at least.  To be clear, a) I know he is proposing to break the agreement with the EU and thus break the law, and b) I know this may be unwise for matters of prudence because the EU is likely to retaliate.

Still, just about every “establishment writer” I am reading can only tsk-tsk to Boris Johnson.  He may not succeed, but you should be rooting for him to succeed and we should all be willing to say this.

If Johnson succeeds, the previous “Protocol” will go away and free trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK will be restored.  That would be a good thing.  There would be more free trade in the short run, and furthermore a backdoor to free trade between the EU and the UK, the magnitude of that change in the longer run being unclear.

The EU doesn’t have to retaliate.  They shouldn’t retaliate.  At current margins of support, they don’t need further punishment of those seeking to leave the EU.  Furthermore such punishment would in this case be unjust, even though it is in accord with agreed-upon international law.

So go on, do all the “tsk tsk” you want, but also put the mood affiliation aside.  At the end of your column add the simple sentence “But of course I am rooting for Boris to succeed!”

For those who need it, here is some background information.