Denis Bradley confesses to having wanted Brexit ‘Leavers’ to win for ‘impure motives’

Mr. Bradley, speaking in Glenties on Tuesday, said: “I wanted the ‘Leavers’ to win and my motives were very impure because for the ‘Remainers’ to win was going to be much of the same, was going to stay on the same road, and would be ultimately fairly bland and fairly predictable.”

The one-time vice-chair of the NI Policing Board noted how Brexit had forced a radical reevaluation of the relationship between Ireland and Britain.

“For the ‘Leavers’ to win was going to create a mini-revolution and was going to change all the dynamics on this island and within other islands on this archipelago and, in fact, was going to force all of us, and all of politics, to reexamine the relationships and the totality of relationships within this island.

“So even though I voted, and even though I am a fundamental European, I think that there is a need for a reexamination of relationships. I think there has been for a good number of years, a need for a reexamination of the relationships within these islands. Between England and Ireland. Between Ireland, North and South. Between Ireland and Scotland. And between Scotland and England.”

Mr. Bradley also admitted to having long been sceptical of suggestions that the appetite for Irish unity had waned over the years, particularly in the South.

“I’ve always thought that was a half-baked theory and recent statistics and research is showing that that is, if not a half-baked theory, at least quarter-baked. There is still that desire. There is still that ambition. There is still that hope,” he declared.