The new British Direct Ruler, Julian Smith, was appointed by newly elected British PM, Boris Johnson. He arrived in Belfast at a time where all attempts to resume talks in the North of Ireland assembly failed.
Smith, who was born in Scotland, currently represents Skipton and Ripon, a constituency of market towns within the Yorkshire Dales popular with retirees.
Most recently criticised for breaking parliamentary protocols as Chief Whip, in 2013 he was accused of McCarthyism after seeking the prosecution of journalists for publishing reports of crimes perpetrated by state intelligence agencies based on the revelations of US whistleblower Edward Snowden.
His appointment by new British PM Boris Johnson as part of an extreme-right Brexiteer Tory cabinet has raised fears that Smith’s main purpose may become the remilitarisation of the north of Ireland.
Former civil servant in the North, Stephen Grimason, revealed that Smith would have “a close relationship with the DUP”, and had attended their annual conference two years ago.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, who met Smith on his arrival in Belfast today, said she asked him about a border poll and gave him a copy of the Good Friday Agreement.
Ms McDonald said she asked Smith about the threshold for calling a border poll -- according to the GFA, Smith now has the sole discretion to call a referendum on reunification.
She told him she hoped he would be “the last” British Direct Ruler and said he took the remark “in good part”, adding he understood that would be the position of Irish republicans.
