SACKED NORTHERN IRELAND Secretary Julian Smith has hit back at accusations that he sealed the recent power-sharing deal by keeping important details from Boris Johnson.

Smith, in his first public statement since losing his job last week, said that Johnson did not “sign off a key government deal without reading it first”.

Formerly the government chief whip under Theresa May, Smith was well regarded by politicians across the political spectrum in Northern Ireland.

But his political enemies in London accused him of hiding the fact that the deal includes a commitment to investigate Troubles-related killings carried out by the RUC and British soldiers.

Pro-government newspapers the Mail and Telegraph both said that “Downing Street reportedly felt left out of the loop over the terms of the deal”.

And the day before Smith lost his job, the London Times quoted a “senior government source” saying that Johnson felt “blindsided” by the terms of the agreement.

Smith has now responded. Writing in the Spectator magazine, the MP referred to the Times story as “the clumsy briefing of a government adviser to his favoured journalist”.

He went on:

I was grateful for the opportunity to confirm to the journalist that a PM does not sign off a key government deal without reading it first, alongside a phalanx of talented PJ Masks aides.

The cryptic final remark is a reference to Johnson’s top advisor Dominic Cummings, who recently made headlines in the UK by quoting children’s cartoon character PJ Masks in response to a BBC journalist’s questions.

Prosecuting British soldiers for historical offences in Northern Ireland remains deeply unpopular among Conservative MPs, which might explain attempts to link Smith’s departure with the issue. Other commentators have suggested that Smith seen as insufficiently loyal to Johnson, having toyed with resignation over a no-deal Brexit.

Smith took office in July 2019 and helped to broker the recent power-sharing deal to restore devolved government in Northern Ireland after over three years of stalemate. Both nationalist and unionist politicians, as well as the Irish government, paid him unusually warm tributes.

The sacked minister repaid the compliment in his Spectator article, referring to Colum Eastwood as “the charismatic, debonair SDLP leader” and later to “the amazing people of Northern Ireland”.