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The Tory Northern Ireland Secretary has admitted she didn’t understand the basics of Northern Irish politics when Theresa May gave her the job.

Karen Bradley had no idea the country’s nationalists did not vote for unionist parties in elections.

Ms Bradley was given the job earlier this year, in a reshuffle that saw her moved from the Culture department.

But she today admitted that at the time she did not fathom some of the deep-rooted issues which define Northern Irish politics.

Ms Bradley also used the interview to slap down Brexit backers - including Boris Johnson - who claim the border issue is being used for a lack of progress in Brexit talks.

She told The House magazine: "I didn't understand things like when elections are fought for example in Northern Ireland - people who are nationalists don't vote for unionist parties and vice-versa.

"So, the parties fight for election within their own community.

"Actually, the unionist parties fight the elections against each other in unionist communities and nationalists in nationalist communities."

Jenny Chapman, Labour's Shadow Brexit Minister said: "This is embarrassing from the Northern Ireland Secretary.

"Given this worrying lack of basic knowledge about Northern Ireland's history, it's no wonder the Tories don't seem to understand the vital importance of preventing a return of a hard border there."

Ms Bradley was appointed in January after her predecessor James Brokenshire stepped aside for medical reasons.

She continued: "That's a very different world from the world I came from, where in Staffordshire Moorlands I was fighting a Labour-held seat as a Conservative politician and I was trying to put forward why you would want to switch from voting Labour to voting Conservative.

"That is so incredibly different and it's when you realise that, and you see that, that you can then start to understand some of the things that the politicians say and some of the rhetoric."

She was interviewed by the weekly magazine for the Houses of Parliament.

Often the battle for seats at election time is between Sinn Fein and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) or the Democratic Unionists, Ulster Unionists and smaller unionist parties.

The cross-community Alliance Party has made gains in some areas like Belfast in recent times.