Johnson mysteriously absent from Sunak’s big Brexit deal speech – and it hasn’t gone unnoticed

Boris Johnson failed to make an appearance in the House of Commons after Rishi Sunak secured a historic deal with the European Union over Northern Ireland.

The former prime minister’s controversial legislation to override post-Brexit rules in the island of Ireland was spectacularly dumped by his predecessor-but-one on Monday in a newly-negotiated deal.

In a Commons address, Sunak told MPs that his new deal “puts beyond all doubt that we’ve now taken back control”, echoing Johnson’s slogan.

Johnson had been warning his successor that scrapping the legislation would be a “great mistake”.

But he was noticeably absent in Parliament on Monday as the deal was unveiled.

Thankfully, it didn’t go unnoticed:

Jack Peat

Jack is a business and economics journalist and the founder of The London Economic (TLE). He has contributed articles to VICE, Huffington Post and Independent and is a published author. Jack read History at the University of Wales, Bangor and has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.