Politics

Lord Frost’s ‘congratulations’ to the Brexit negotiating team badly backfires

Lord Frost’s ‘congratulations’ to the Brexit negotiating team badly backfires

Everyone from the 2020 Brexit negotiating team has been rewarded in the Queen’s New Year Honours list (yes, really) and Lord Frost has been duly roast after congratulating them.

The former Brexit minister who led negotiations resigned last month over “concerns about the current direction of travel” of the government and made his feelings clear in a letter to Boris Johnson sharing his wish for the PM to “not be tempted” in addressing Covid with “coercive measures.”

In reaction to the New Years Honours list, he tweeted: “Huge congratulations to everyone from the British negotiating team from 2020 who received an honour this New Year. I’m very glad to see proper recognition for those who worked so hard and did such a brilliant job for our country. They really deserve it.”

It appears Lord Frost’s tweet has since backfired, given the strong response from people on Twitter questioning whether the peer is joking in his complimentary message, when - let’s face it - Brexit hasn’t exactly been plain sailing.

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Alistair Campbell made his feelings clear and suggested the tradition of using the Honours list to reward people is a “failure.”

Labour MP for Wallasey, Angela Eagle informed Lord Frost: “Sarcasm doesn’t work on Twitter.”

From one peer to another, Lord Adonis couldn’t quite believe what he was reading and replied insisting Lord Frost’s tweet “must be a spoof.”

Former Liberal Democrat leader, Tim Farron sarcastically said if Brexit negotiators have been honoured then there’s “genuine hope” for the England test cricket team... who have just had their worst performance in the Ashes, losing the urn to Australia in a record-breaking time.

Former footballer and pundit, Gary Neville is known for being outspoken on political matters on Twitter and Lord Frost’s tweet certainly fired him up as in response he declared: “Taking the piss to the end!”

Dragons Den star and businesswoman Deborah Meaden described Lord Frost’s tweet as “empty words.”

Former rugby player and pundit Brian Moore questioned whether “parody accounts get blue ticks now?”

Many more also ripped into Lord Frost over his congratulatory tweet and questioned the Honours system.

While the 2020 Brexit negotiation team received an honour, others on the Honours list this year include Prof Chris Whitty, Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, and former prime minister Tony Blair have been knighted, and actresses Joanna Lumley and Vanessa Redgrave have been made dames.

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