The same Steve Baker who led the charge on restoring sovereignty and freeing ourselves from the EU, now champions the fact that if the UK want to deliver movement of goods Great Britain-Northern Ireland, agreement – a euphemism for permission – from the EU is required.

We are then subjected to the condescending utterances of Baker informing the people of NI about ‘compromises’. Would Steve Baker accept the EU colonial rule for his constituents in GB? Not for a moment, but yet he has the audacity to pontificate to the people of Northern Ireland.

In truth the hardman of Brexit melted like a snowman at the first whiff of ministerial office. Last week, 100 days on since the Donaldson Deal on Surrendering the Union, Baker – once again gaslighting unionists – was parading around Stormont filming himself, and like a monty-python sketch paying tribute to the UUP for restoring Stormont. This despite the fact the UUP have been long time advocates of protocol implementation, and would never have collapsed it in the first place. There is no price to high for the UUP’s Stormont Stockholm syndrome.

The problem with Baker is he views unionism through the prism of the cadre of handpicked ‘peace processors’ who are on the NIO’s ‘approved’ list. Such persons, some people may think, have ‘important’ contributions to make, but more often than not such contributions are wildly disconnected from the reality of what grassroots unionists and loyalists actually think.

It ought to be called the Baker bubble, whereby he has cocooned himself amongst the peace processor industry, and believes the NIO’s approved list of unionists/loyalists actually represent the views of a majority of unionists/loyalists.

It is a bit like how the BBC salivate over Wallace Thompson, treating his analysis as reflective of unionism, when polling shows 9/10 unionists disagree with him.

If Baker had any real understanding of unionism/loyalism, then they wouldn’t be behaving as he is, and he wouldn’t have come off with most of the flatulence which has characterised his stint as a beneficiary of ministerial office.

He has gone from, according to his on TV contributions, ‘plotting’ in his flip flops, to instead now envisaging himself as a modern day Gandhi in sandals, bestowing us all with his new found ‘wisdom’ and enlightened view on why NI should accept being surrendered to the Union.

With news Heaton-Harris shall be departing at the next election, it can only be hoped that Steve Baker’s constituents impose upon him a similar fate. That would be a good day for the unionist people of Northern Ireland.

Jamie Bryson, NI Director of Policy, Centre for the Union