On his first visit to the north in July after his appointment, the new proconsul wouldn’t answer a question from The Irish Times on reunification.

Asked if he believed there would be a united Ireland, he said: “I believe lots of things. I’m sort of avoiding answering the question. I’m deliberately avoiding answering the question.”

A staunch supporter of the union?

Britain’s new proconsul in this part of Ireland was, however, half right when he claimed Andy Burnham hadn’t made a mistake in his comment about a border poll being “off the table”.

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He claimed Burnham meant off the table in that day’s discussions. C’mon.

Nope. The proconsul must think we all came up the Lagan in a bubble.

The truth is that Burnham was being perfectly consistent, for he used exactly the same language when he first met John Swinney in July.

Douglas Alexander, his Scottish secretary, regarded by many in the SNP as an insufferable twerp, came out of the meeting gloating and smirking to tell the press that the prime minister had told Swinney an independence referendum was “off limits”.

Burnham had then gone on to give Swinney........

© The Irish News