Boris Johnson has appointed his brother as a minister and people can’t believe the hypocrisy

Boris Johnson has appointed his brother Jo Johnson as a government minister, despite him being a vocal opponent of Brexit.

Jo, who resigned in 2018 over Theresa May’s Brexit plan and has campaigned for a second referendum, will now be part of a government that wants to take the UK out of the EU by 31 October with or without a deal.

In June, Boris said all his cabinet ministers would have to sign up to leaving the EU with no deal if an agreement could not be reached by the end of October.

You would assume that would be a problem for a second referendum supporters like Jo, but apparently he takes after his brother when it comes to flip-flopping.

When you look back, Jo has had a pretty wild ride through the negotiation process - he's taken up pretty much every possible position at some point.

You could be forgiven for thinking he’s sold out his principles...

So does Jo still think leaving the EU with no deal would be bad for the UK? Or has his brother won him round to the idea?

Here’s what he said about Brexit last year:

And here’s how he started his letter announcing his resignation from May’s government:

Brexit has divided the country. It has divided political parties. And it has divided families too. Although I voted Remain, I have desperately wanted the government, in which I have been proud to serve, to make a success of Brexit: to reunite our country, our party and, yes, my family too.

At times, I believed this was possible. That’s why I voted to start the Article 50 process and for two years have backed the prime minister in her efforts to secure the best deal for the country. But it has become increasingly clear to me that the withdrawal agreement, which is being finalised in Brussels and Whitehall even as I write, will be a terrible mistake.

At least it isn’t dividing his family anymore...

However, while Jo has repeatedly warned of the “untold damage” no-deal would inflict on the country, he did leave a little room to manoeuvre in his resignation letter, when he wrote:

Yet for all its challenges and for all the real pain it would cause us as we adapt to new barriers to trade with our biggest market, we can ultimately survive these difficulties.