Misjudging Irish relations was May’s dumbest mistake

Putting a border solution on the long finger has left the British prime minister with a mountain to climb

‘Don’t worry Paddy, we’ll get to you.” This was essentially the message in Theresa May’s first big speech on Brexit back in January 2017. Amid the pomp of Lancaster House, a Georgian mansion in central London that doubles as Buckingham Palace in the Netflix series The Crown, the British prime minister airily promised to deliver a “practical solution” on the Irish border “as soon as we can”.

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