In July 2019, Boris Johnson made his first visit to Northern Ireland as prime minister. His election as leader of the Conservative Party had been assured since they had won only nine per cent of the vote at the European Elections in May and concluded they were in desperate need of salvation. Johnson was elected leader on July 23 with two thirds of the party membership supporting him. A week later, he visited Northern Ireland to talk to the political parties there. One politician who was present for one of those meetings would later recall a curious incident that revealed…

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