Brokenshire broke a province

Snickers Man

James Brokenshire has resigned as Northern Ireland Secretary in advance of a British cabinet reshuffle. Apparently on health grounds.

Not a stellar performer. He has presided over a situation in which neither of the main parties in the Local Assembly want to deal with each other, each for their own selfish reasons. <SNIP> No name calling please.

How could a responsible person in that job have been a prominent advocate of Brexit? If she couldn't see the danger it would pose to the peace process in Northern Ireland she was either breathtakingly stupid or just didn't give a damn. Either of which explanations should have disqualified her from the position, IMHO.

Wonder who the new person will be

murphaph

Snickers Man wrote: »

James Brokenshire has resigned as Northern Ireland Secretary in advance of a British cabinet reshuffle. Apparently on health grounds.

Not a stellar performer. He has presided over a situation in which neither of the main parties in the Local Assembly want to deal with each other, each for their own selfish reasons. <SNIP> No name calling please.

How could a responsible person in that job have been a prominent advocate of Brexit? If she couldn't see the danger it would pose to the peace process in Northern Ireland she was either breathtakingly stupid or just didn't give a damn. Either of which explanations should have disqualified her from the position, IMHO.

Wonder who the new person will be

Apparently he needs lung surgery so it sounds quite serious. Best of luck to him and his family.

I wouldn't wish the job of Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on my worst enemy. Imagine being locked in a room with SF reps on one side and DUP reps on the other bleating on about themmuns and stuff that happened decades ago.

Brexit makes an already crap job ten times worse and it needs someone skilful but there's a serious dearth of talent about at the moment.

Snickers Man

Snickers Man wrote: »

James Brokenshire has resigned as Northern Ireland Secretary in advance of a British cabinet reshuffle. Apparently on health grounds.

Not a stellar performer. He has presided over a situation in which neither of the main parties in the Local Assembly want to deal with each other, each for their own selfish reasons. <SNIP> No name calling please.

How could a responsible person in that job have been a prominent advocate of Brexit? If she couldn't see the danger it would pose to the peace process in Northern Ireland she was either breathtakingly stupid or just didn't give a damn. Either of which explanations should have disqualified her from the position, IMHO.

Wonder who the new person will be

Well that doesn't make sense, does it? Fair enough, delete my caustic description of Brokenshire's predecessor but at least try to leave it so that the sentence makes sense.

All I was doing was saying that Brokenshire was preferable to his predecessor, Teresa Villiers, who in my view (and toning my stated expression down to meet Boards standards) was in dereliction of duty by being a prominent Brexiteer while serving as Norther Ireland secretary of state.

For Forks Sake

murphaph wrote: »

Apparently he needs lung surgery so it sounds quite serious. Best of luck to him and his family.

I wouldn't wish the job of Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on my worst enemy. Imagine being locked in a room with SF reps on one side and DUP reps on the other bleating on about themmuns and stuff that happened decades ago.

Brexit makes an already crap job ten times worse and it needs someone skilful but there's a serious dearth of talent about at the moment.

Better link here.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/james-brokenshire-resigns-cabinet-reshuffle-northern-ireland-secretary-latest-news-updates-a8147621.html

Mr Brokenshire - who has held the job since July 2016 - is preparing to undergo major surgery within the next few weeks to treat a lesion to his right lung.

A source close to Mr Brokenshire told The Independent: “He has a small lesion on his right lung and is getting major surgery in the next couple of weeks.”

In his resignation letter, Mr Brokenshire said: “Clearly my long term health and my family are my priorities and I intend to proceed with the surgery at the earlier opportunity.

“While the operation is expected to address the issue and I will get back to work relatively quickly, recovering from the surgery and regaining my strength will take several weeks.”

gmisk

In fairness politicians in Northern Ireland would break anyones spirit! He was a huge improvement over Teresa Villiers IMO.
I wish him a speedy recovery.

Snickers Man

Snickers Man wrote: »

James Brokenshire has resigned as Northern Ireland Secretary in advance of a British cabinet reshuffle. Apparently on health grounds.

Not a stellar performer. He has presided over a situation in which neither of the main parties in the Local Assembly want to deal with each other, each for their own selfish reasons.

OK, he is no Mo Mowlem, but what exactly were you expecting him to do?

Colonel Claptrap

Snickers Man wrote: »

All I was doing was saying that Brokenshire was preferable to his predecessor, Teresa Villiers, who in my view (and toning my stated expression down to meet Boards standards) was in dereliction of duty by being a prominent Brexiteer while serving as Norther Ireland secretary of state.

Quite the opposite.

Northern Irish citizens are not his/her constituents.

The NI secretary should not be partisan. What has their stance on Brexit got to do with the carrying out of their duties? The NI secretary serves on a cabinet which collectively voted to enact article 50. If the Secretary was anti-brexit and refused to vote with the government, then they would be in dereliction of their duties.

Red_Wake

As tough a job as you can find in politics tbf.

Peregrinus

Colonel Claptrap wrote: »

Quite the opposite.

Northern Irish citizens are not his/her constituents.

The NI secretary should not be partisan. What has their stance on Brexit got to do with the carrying out of their duties? The NI secretary serves on a cabinet which collectively voted to enact article 50. If the Secretary was anti-brexit and refused to vote with the government, then they would be in dereliction of their duties.

Villiers was a keen Brexiter before it was party policy.