Justice Minister Naomi Long has said she wouldn’t leave her handbag alone in a room with Boris Johnson.
She branded the former PM one of the most untrustworthy people she had ever encountered in a candid interview.
The Alliance leader was a guest on the Give My Head Podcast with Tim McGarry, Michael McDowell and Damon Quinn.
While discussing her career, she delivered a range of candid opinions on US, UK and Irish politicians.
She didn’t hold back when sharing her dislike of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Long mocked the former PM, who served between 2019 and 2022, and his ambitious idea to build a bridge between Northern Ireland and Scotland.
“I said, ‘It’s the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard.’
“He probably enjoyed the sparring a little bit, but it was just, it was just weird having somebody who was just so mad in charge,” she said.
Mr Johnson’s time in office was overshadowed by a series of controversies, including the Partygate scandal.
Mrs Long added: “(He’s) one of the most untrustworthy people I think I’ve ever come across in politics.”
She also criticised his two successors, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, admitting she found Mr Sunak over-enthusiastic.
“He reminded me of, do you know one of those like, over-enthusiastic school prefects?
“Everything was said with this real intensity and ‘it’s going to be such fun’ and you’re just like, ‘Stop, just calm down!’.”
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Mrs Long also said she was fascinated by Mr Sunak’s height, remarking: “He and his wife, they’re really tiny.”
On Ms Truss’ brief stint as PM, Mrs Long described it as “just terrible”.
One Prime Minister she did praise was Theresa May, saying: “She was quite nice to talk to. I always find her a very genuine person. (A) bit awkward, but she was always trying to do the right thing, even if she wasn’t doing the right thing.”
However, on others, she was a lot less complimentary. She described Chris Heaton-Harris, who was Secretary of State until July, as “pretty grim”. “You would have conversations with him and there was just nothing going on — it was unresponsive at times,” she said.
However she liked Karen Bradley, adding: “She’s really nice but she was also really honest.
“When she said she didn’t understand when she came here that unionists didn’t vote for nationalist politicians and all that kind of stuff… it is mind blowing that she didn’t know that.
“But she was actually, she was somebody who I think really wanted to do the right thing, so I liked her.”
Brandon Lewis, who was Secretary of State from February 2020 to July 22, was branded “unteachable”.
“The one I probably crossed swords with the most was Brandon Lewis, because Brandon had all of the not knowing anything of Karen Bradley, but all the belief that he knew everything.
“So he was unteachable, if you know what I mean.”
Mrs Long compared him to a character from The Fast Show — the hit 1990s BBC comedy sketch show.
“He reminded me of Swiss Toni and I could never get the image out of my head.
“He’s the only Secretary of State I’ve ever hung the phone up on.”
While discussing her time in the European Parliament, Mrs Long shared stories of “cringe” Brexit talks and admitted she avoided speaking to Nigel Farage.
She added: “I avoided Nigel — if I’m really honest, it was easy because he was rarely in the chamber.
“He never turned up, he never went to his committees, but stood at the bar propping up the bar and basically just being a blowhard. So it was really easy to avoid.”
Mrs Long said she also avoided meeting former US President Donald Trump.
“I just think he’s an appalling human being, there’s just something about him that is just so irredeemably awful, and he doesn’t even care,” she observed.
“He’s like… vile and he knows that he wears it as a badge of honour.”
She was a lot more complimentary about the current US President, Joe Biden. “It was actually quite moving because he told us about how his daughter Naomi, because as soon as he heard my name he said how his wife and daughter had been killed in a car accident and all that. But he just had this really open conversation that you couldn’t have imagined having with somebody, to be honest, because he was talking about his family and the loss and everything,” she said. Mrs Long said she enjoyed the open conversation she had with Mr Biden.
“And it kind of makes you appreciate somebody at a human level when you get that chance,” she said. Mrs Long spoke for about an hour on the podcast.
As the group discussed age, Tim McGarry admitted that finding out Simon Harris, the current Taoiseach and leader of Fine Gael, was only 37 made him feel old. “In fairness to him — he did his best not to look it.” “He doesn’t look 37,” Mrs Long replied.
They also discussed how young some PSNI officers are. Mrs Long remarked: “I was at the attestation for the new batch going out last week and like they are so young looking, it’s kind of weird.”
She also spoke about her east Belfast background, joining the Alliance Party and becoming Justice Minster. “I didn’t want to be Justice Minister. The plan was that I was going to be party leader, Stephen Farry was going to be minister and then Stephen went and got himself elected to Westminster so that plan didn’t work.
“It wasn’t something I ever thought I would want to do — it never occurred to me.” Mrs Long admitted she know enjoys the role. “I’ve loved it because sometimes if you have a job, you’re doing the same thing all the time and it’s over and over again it’s repetitive.
“Whereas if you’re doing something completely different, you’re learning all the time.”
You can listen to Naomi Long’s full interview on the Give My Head Podcast on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube
News Catch Up – Thursday 24 October