A benefit of Brexit - Chance to learn

One of the very few benefits of Brexit, and it is only a passing one, is that allows some us to harrumph about the ignorance of some British figures around the history of our fractious relationship.

The suggestion from Priti Patel, a former minister, that food shortages be orchestrated in Ireland was one.

The suggestion from Tory MP Andrew Bridgen that all English people are entitled to an Irish passport was another.

The latest Churchill biography seems to contribute to that imperception too. Andrew Roberts’ work has been acclaimed despite weaknesses on Churchill’s suggestions during our War of Independence. Roberts records that in 1920 Churchill suggested:

Airplanes being dispatched with definite orders... to disperse them [Irish protestors] by machine gun fire or bombs, using, of course, no more force than is necessary to scatter and stampede them.

Maybe our Government should present the most strident Brexiteers, and some unionists, with a copy to try to show why the backstop is essential and that insisting on one is not a ruse to reach a united Ireland.