A former NIO minister hassaid it feels “f****** shaming” when he thinks about how the UK has treated Ireland in the past.
Steve Baker also admitted he would be reluctant to return to Northern Ireland, saying he fears some loyalists want him dead over his support for the Windsor Framework.
He made his comments in an interview with The Irish Times.
Mr Baker was Conservative MP for Wycombe since 2010, but was one of a series of high-profile Tories to lose their seats in July’s election.
He was minister of state for Northern Ireland between September 2022, when he was appointed by Liz Truss, and May this year.
A self-styled “hard man of Brexit”, in 2022 Mr Baker apologised for some of his behaviour towards Ireland and the EU during the negotiations.
He admitted that he and others did not “always behave in a way which encouraged Ireland and the European Union to trust us to accept that they have legitimate interests”.
Today, in a new interview with The Irish Times, he admits to feeling shame over the UK’s conduct.
“I am embarrassed that Ireland was treated the way it was by the United Kingdom,” he said.
“It was wrong. God knows over our history Ireland has been treated badly by the UK. It’s f**king shaming.”
Mr Baker described then Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and former Tanaiste Simon Coveney as a “bloody nuisance” for their stubbornness over the border.
“Their predecessor [Enda Kenny] said the border was just a technical and administrative problem,” he said.
“He was saying it, I was saying it – it was true. [But] Leo and Simon were instinctively doing political things that made [a deal] impossible, playing up to an Irish domestic audience and EU higher-ups.”
He said his surprise apology, made at the Conservative Party conference, was a bid to break the deadlock.
Mr Baker recalled telling Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland Secretary, minutes before they walked on stage.
“I remember his face – he looked at me agog. It had to be a hard Brexiteer who made that apology,” he said.
Mr Baker feels he has “reconciled” with senior political figures in Dublin.
He added: “I want to praise Leo now. It takes a big man or woman to change their approach.
“I’ve met him a few times since. I understand he’s a man of few words and I’m not bothered if we didn’t have much of an exchange.
“But I do feel I am reconciled with Irish political leaders, although there will be plenty in Ireland who still hate my guts.”
In the wide-ranging interview with newspaper’s London correspondent Mark Paul, Mr Baker also accepts he is now a hate figure for some loyalists.
Unionists remain deeply unhappy at the Windsor Framework, the post-Brexit deal agreed between the UK and EU in February 2023 which covers trade and human rights.
Earlier this week, the Assembly voted to extend the arrangement, which effectively keeps Northern Ireland inside the EU’s single market for goods, for a further four years.
Mr Baker said that due to loyalist resentment of him, he would not return to Northern Ireland unless he had close protection or could carry his own “sidearm”.
“I would not trust loyalists not to want me dead,” he added.
Mr Baker also recalled a breakdown in relations with his “best friend in politics”, an unnamed activist in unionism who won’t speak to him any more over his support for the Windsor Framework.
“A man who I love like a brother – but he can’t forgive me. Well I forgive him. But, bloody hell, it hurts,” he added.