Today’s edition of BBC Breakfast saw Dan Walker interview Prime Minister Boris Johnson over the latest Brexit developments and his plans for the Irish backstop. But as the host tried to pin down the politician over details of his plans, viewers were left irritated and took to Twitter to brand the chat a “waste of time”.
Walker began by asking about the government’s plan for the Irish backstop: “It seems proposals we are hearing about this morning with regards to the Irish border, have not only gone down badly in Ireland but also in Brussels. So first of all, what are the changes?”
“As far as I can make out from the response from Brussels and I think Dublin, they’re not talking about proposals that are going to be, they’re talking about some stuff that went in previously,” Johnson hit back.
“But clearly, this is the moment when the rubber his the road and when the hard yards really are in the course of the negotiation.
“And, the difficulty really is going to be around the customs union and to what extent Northern Ireland can be retained within EU bodies at all.
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“We’ve made a good offer, we’re going to be making a very good offer, we’re going to be tabling it soon. But there is a difficulty if you try to keep Northern Ireland in the customs union because one of the basic things about being a country is you have a single customs perimeter.”
“With fairness, we’ve been aware of that problem for an awfully long time,” Walker replied.
“What I was referring to there was customs clearance centres, is that part of the plan?”
Walker went on to press Johnson to give more detail of his plans for the Irish backstop and become irate when the Prime Minister began to chat about cattle and moving goods across the border.
“Waste of time having #BorisJohnson on #bbcbreakfast this morning. Said absolutely nothing we haven’t known for over 12 months. #wasteoftime” one viewer shared.
Another added: “Pointless interview with Johnson. No surprise #bbcbreakfast.”
A third continued: “Omg this is painful but I can’t stop watching #bbcpm #bbcbreakfast.”
“Dan Walker is the feeblest interviewer ever. #bbcbreakfast @BBCNaga wouldn’t let this blustering idiot get away with all this dodging,” someone else tweeted.
