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Updated 3.00pm
CONSERVATIVE MP JAMES Brokenshire has resigned as secretary for Northern Ireland from the UK Cabinet this morning, citing health reasons.
50-year-old Brokenshire had been in the position since July 2016, having taken over from Theresa Villiers in the wake of the UK’s Brexit vote.
Brokenshire addressed a letter dated today to Prime Minister Theresa May, informing her that he is to undergo surgery to remove a lesion on his right lung, which would necessitate several weeks of recuperation.
“I recognise that as a result of my forthcoming surgery I will not be able to give the effort, energy and complete focus needed at this important time if we are to secure the positive outcomes both you and I are committed to achieving,” he wrote.
The right time
I believe that the right thing at this time is for me to stand down from my current responsibilities.
Ireland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney paid tribute to Brokenshire, saying he had “worked with unfailing dedication and determination to secure political progress” in Northern Ireland, adding that he had spoken to the former secretary from Cairo this afternoon.
“His unwavering commitment – in public and in private – over the last year to securing the effective operation of the devolved power-sharing institutions in Belfast has been hugely important,” Coveney said.
While it is not always obvious to the public gaze, very important progress has been made on significant issues over the last year and I believe that a positive outcome can still be achieved. If it is, it will be a testament to the quiet, understated but hugely valuable work of James Brokenshire.
The former secretary’s resignation came immediately prior to the expected cabinet reshuffle on the part of May.
Many ministers are expected to lose their jobs in that reshuffle, with those most senior, including foreign secretary Boris Johnson and Brexit minister David Davis, expected to remain in their positions.
Difficult tenure
Brokenshire’s tenure as secretary proved to be a difficult one.
In the wake of the seismic Brexit vote, the MP for Hornchurch found himself dealing with the aftermath of the collapse of the Northern Irish Assembly over the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scandal.
The country has now been without a functioning executive for just under 12 months.
DUP leader Arlene Foster said that “this is clearly a difficult time for not only James but for Cathy, his wife and his children”.
I send my best wishes to him and the entire Brokenshire family. I trust James will have the surgery he needs and will make a full recovery.
“Since becoming Secretary of State in 2016, Mr Brokenshire had immersed himself fully in the role by dedicating long hours to trying to make progress. I look forward to working with him again in the future.”
SDLP Leader Colum Eastwood also paid tribute to Brokenshire, stating that “I’ve always had a very good working relationship with him”.
In the course of negotiations, the SDLP has often disagreed with the position of his government but I have always found Mr Brokenshire to be personable, reasonable and, so far as possible, helpful.
“Our thoughts are with him and his family as he takes time to concentrate on his health,” he added.
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Putin we had 2 years of covid and now you start this absolute farce which will achieve nothing.
@James Lough: I think he plans on rebuilding a Soviet empire.
@Richard Williamson: He is, after all, ex KGB.
@Richard Williamson: Most ex soviet states are already controlled by Putin through puppet governments. Ukraine was sliding too far West for his liking
@Richard Williamson: what good will it do him, he’s 69 years of age and not in the best of health. Maybe that’s his thinking though, he’s not afraid to make a big mess because he knows he’ll not be around too long to see it.
@Richard Williamson: I agree
@James Lough: have you ever seen a farce, an actual farce? I saw one once a Noel Coward play, it was farcical for sure
Nelson Mandela: “Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.
@Charles Malone: Just what Ukraine needs more platitudes.
@Daftbit Jelly: Just what Ukaraine needs, more Sarcasm.
@James Kerins: *Ukraine
Russian troops tried entering Khershon early this morning. Some drove into the city at high speed in light armored cars and canvass covered Kamaz trucks…
https://twitter.com/notwoofers/status/1497803254360649732
and other soldiers tried slowly walking in behind light armoured vehicles out in the open, and walked into an ambush. They all scattered when shooting started.
They were attacked by the Ukrainian army and defeated…
https://mobile.twitter.com/ukraine_af/status/1497853318458232837.
Russian troops are very poorly trained, it was bizarre to see. Not only are they walking into a city with high building, exposed, they are not using tanks. They might as well tried cycling into the city.
Seems they were ordered to entre the city for a photo opportunity, a lot of pressure up top to get results. They haven’t captured a city yet.
@David Jordan: Correct link.
https://www.reddit.com/r/CombatFootage/comments/t2j8au/kharkiv/
They just drove into the city and into a trap.
I posed the first video of a Ukrainian Bayraktar TB2 drone hitting a target at Khershon International Airport.
And here they’re walking into the city out in the open.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/t2il8a/russian_forces_in_kharkiv_got_under_attack/
@David Jordan: conscripts cost 400$ a month to pay a t80 or t90 is $4,000,000 at least. They can replace the 18-22 year olds easier. Sad days for humanity
@David Jordan: Maybe the poorly trained are the Rosgvardia, the Russian National Guard, as opposed to the Russian military? Could be a case of sending in the “pawns” first as he thought it would be an easy campaign in Ukraine and hes keeping his proper military for further expansion/if the west gets drawn into the conflict….. Hopefully not and this all ends soon
@David Jordan: Putin has told them that they’d be seen as liberators and would be welcomed by the Ukrainian people……His lies are being exposed.
@David Jordan: It is called reconnaissance. The Russians don’t want to fight for the cities. They will besiege them. Modern cities generally have about 3 days supply of food on hand and are dependent on rather fragile ‘just in time’ supply chains.
@Paul Hedderman: correct
@Des Hanrahan: Slight correction they do appear to be fighting for Kharkov.
@Stephen Murphy: get over yourself, they are sacrificial pawns in Putin’s plans. Your great hero is getting exposed for the madnan he is.
@David Jordan: correct. Putin relies on reputation and numbers on the ground, but troops very poorly trained.
@David Jordan: Grozny 2.0
Putin is now trying to escalate the conflict with talk of Nuclear. He is literally this centuries’ Hitler. Russians must stop him! It’s on the Russian army and Russian people now
@Local Ore: Exactly, it has to come from within. Protests are taking place in cities all over Russia today. Hopefully the financial collapse tomorrow will be the catalyst that is needed and Putin will suffer a ‘heartattack’
The Demonstrations in support of the people of Ukraine must continue until this Stops
We need to take more action on the aviation front. Closing Irish airspace is largely symbolic. With several Russia backed SPVs and leasing companies based in Ireland well over 100 aircraft are funded or leased through Irish companies at the IFSC and elsewhere in this country. These companies can only continue to do this with Central Bank, Stock Exchange and Companies Office agreement, so the Government can directly intervene. In any case the assets (aircraft) are at risk and credit backing from Russian banks may soon be worthless.
@Mark Campbell: ya a nofly zone over Ukraine is needed. Very basic level protection for Ukraine but also effective.
@Roy Dowling: no not necessarily. It can be done & yes the British have made those claims but on a humanitarian basis it can be done to protect large population areas and protect escaping refugees. Its just that Ukrainians would also not be let fly planes.
Am I reading this correctly, that the head of the Russian Orthodox Church is supporting the War and Invasion. If so, it’s not a Christian Church if it supports War and Aggression, and my Church, the Roman Catholic Church should sever all ties with it.
@Owen McGinley: you clearly don’t understand your church or the Russian orthodox Church. Both involved and supporting wars throughout their history. Your church had a political wing in the last century called fascism and the Russian orthodox Church has aligned itself also with fascists in the balkans and Russia. Christopher Hitchens wrote & spoke extensively about this 20 years ago. “Religion poisons everything”.
@Allora: I know my Church all too well, although I had hoped it would have moved on a bit, and I was using this forum in part to allow other comments and raise the issue.
@Owen McGinley: — It’s not unusual for Christian clerics to be involved in supporting wars. The Nazi supporting president of Slovakia during WW2 was an RC priest. That’s only one example, and there must be countless others.
@William Tallon: yes I’ve heard of it but haven’t read it but apparently its viewed as a judgement on the Hitch and presents the arguments in a trail like manner as claimed by Seymour but without input of a defence from christopher obviously and yes he supported the war on Iraq and Afghanistan for his own reasons as he made clear. Imperialism wasn’t one of them and that claim leans towards someone who hadn’t read him. He most definitely was an authority on the rcc. He was called to the Vatican to speak about his knowledge of mother theresa & her reputation. I’d call that a validation of his authority.
@William Tallon: by the way he was a member of the Eastern orthodox Church.
Will the west do anything about the countries supporting Russia during its invasion of Ukraine? China, India, Pakistan, UAE, all are standing with Russia, that will enable Putin to continue. Why are we just ignoring that?
@Local Ore: maybe the international community cannot or will not, but we can…. when buying something, look at where it’s made. Buy Irish or EU at least.
@Local Ore: Doubtful
@Local Ore: The absentee countries don’t necessarily support the war and the UAE has condemned it. The UAE are usually aligned with America, but annoyed at Biden’s lack of support when the UAE came under attack recently. They used absenteeism to show their annoyance. If they vetoed that would have been a different situation.
@Local Ore: Only Belarus are standing with Russia
The best thing that can happen is a bit of fear and common sense in his circle, internal coup. Take him out now. Pull back from Ukraine and start the job of restoring Russia’s place in the world.
Putin had to wait until Angela Merkel had stood down and this muppet had taken charge. She understood what Ukraine was loosing having grown up under essentially soviet rule in east Germany and realising that they would rather be dead than under Russian rule.
@Colm O’Leary: ya cause she stop Russia in 2014 and 2008 and didn’t want the gas line from Russia,she really stood up to Putin.
@Daniel Roche: that wasn’t any of her business in 2008 or 2014. That would have led to war with Russia for sure!
Is it Russian registered planes that will be banned from Irish airspace or will it include all the planes that are registered in Ireland through their leasing companies or other low tax jurisdiction? I’d imagine it’s irrelevant though as they can’t reach Irish airspace without traversing UK airspace & they have issued a ban on all Belarusian & Russian flights so if we want to remain neutral we could do so without offending anyone. Lets face it if an Aeroflot plane was passing over Irish airspace what are the air corp going to do about it?
@Joe Thorpe: hopefully it will include planes being used by any Russian airline regardless of it’s state of registration.
Putin needs go into a dark room and have a chat with himself about what he wants.
Ukraine has closed door on Nato Membership. Objective met.
There is a point from where we cannot go back.
Does he want to be an ageing man watching Russia slowly disintegrate.
The way the world is now for any country you can lead it or leave it we are all codependent.
Sanctions need to be tightened to include a complete EU airspace ban on all flights to/from both Russia and Belarus. And Belarus needs to be hit with exactly the same sanctions as Russia. They need to be treated as one and the same.
I am the man, the well fed man
In charge of the terrible knob
The most pleasing thing about it
It’s almost a permanent job
When the atom war is over
And the world is split in three
A consolation I’ve got, well, maybe it’s not
There’ll be nobody left but me
I think PooTin is having a stroke. Russian economy will not recover from this.
MOD Putin has calculated 50k Russian deaths is acceptable for this war. They thought they would kiev easier- they are now going to starve it ..cutting it off etc.. but it’s also reported Kermlin needs to secure Kiev by Monday. Russian fx expected to collapse on Monday. If Putin is backed into a corner .. will he put chemicals in Kiev water?
Can we not just boot the feckers out now? Seriously wtf are our government playing at? Threats with nuclear weapons…. Time to stop the charade
@Rerek Tony Dyan: Putin is unhinged, therefore, the west is genuinely in a difficult position. If he uses nukes we are all in serious trouble.
How are we supposed to stop the entering?
Yet again I am left wondering why Ireland does not have a nuclear weapons.
Blind Larry has informed me he has a CERT Basic in drone navigation.
I mean I could have the fuse lit. With enough time to pour a fresh pint of Guinness before watching the firework display on CNN.
What could possibly go wrong?
We cannot just watch a genocide in Kyiv happen over the next week – we must protect them if putin chooses this action, no more excuses
@SheepleDog: We cant but it has to be handled delicately by the west as they’re dealing with a mad man with nuclear weapons. There might not be a “we” anymore if things escalate to a nuclear war involving other nations….. Scary thought
We, including Irish democrats, must prepare now to fight to protect Kyiv – we cannot stand back and watch the genocide of a European democratic city despite putins bluff of nukes (may as well blow himself up)
Problem now is that Putin has boxed himself into a corner and can’t be seen to back down for fear of losing credibility with those Russians that support him. To withdraw or concede could very well spell the beginning of the end for him. Ironic that he preaches to Russians that Ukrainians are part of the great motherland family, and on the other hand he’s prepared to bomb and kill them?
Talk about what!!
Ukraine agreed to talks but not in Belarus!!!!
This is all going to end very badly with mad Vlad’s finger on the nuclear button.
Putin clearly on steroids fluid retention very obvious tonight. Something not right.
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