Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness

Last week, the veteran Tory Europhile, Ken Clarke, argued that if the UK leaves the EU Customs Union the best solution “is to have a border down the Irish Sea”. His intervention appalled unionists and delighted nationalists, who - in connivance with the Alliance Party - have been using Brexit to try to loosen Northern Ireland’s ties with Great Britain and edge it closer to the Republic of Ireland. Mr Clarke has made many constructive arguments over the years, from the moderate wing of the Conservatives, but his comments about Northern Ireland have been pitifully few and often betrayed a patronising disdain for this part of the UK. After his former party leader, David Cameron, formed an electoral pact with Ulster Unionists, Clarke told the Daily Telegraph, “you can always do a deal with an Ulsterman, but it’s not the way to run a modern, sophisticated society”. Nationalists will applaud anyone who supports their schemes to dilute Northern Ireland’s position in the UK. It is All...

The focus should be on the achievements on Michael O'Neill and his team. This evening Belfast City Council will vote on a motion proposing to invite both the Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland football teams to a civic reception at the City Hall.  The joint event is a mischievous idea, conceived by SDLP councillor, Declan Boyle, which masquerades as an attempt to encourage reconciliation, but actually undermines efforts to ensure our national football team remains an inclusive, cross-community organisation, representing everyone here. Northern Ireland’s footballers and their committed supporters, the Green and White Army, can look forward to 2016 with enormous optimism.  Under the leadership of Michael O’Neill, our team last year qualified for a major championship for the first time since 1986, topping its group in the process.  In June the squad travels to France to play Poland, the Ukraine and world champions Germany, in the European Championships - a...

The Assembly is set to consider the Justice Bill again today , once Edwin Poots is done thrilling members with the latest instalment on High Hedges.  Previously, when David Ford’s draft went before the Committee for Culture, Arts and Leisure, it became apparent that Part 4 of the Bill , which covers sport, is unfit for purpose. I previously pointed out that David McNarry, while he couched it in typically inflated, sectarian terms, had a valid point when he argued that football should not be the sole focus of sections on ticket touts and banning orders. GAA, football and rugby clubs around the country have also been alarmed by the sections on alcohol at sporting events.  It’s been pointed out that the legislation would not simply cover the pesky aggressive louts whom the authorities want to stop drinking - it would also put an end to ANY corporate hospitality at sports venues and punch a massive hole in many clubs’ business models. Ulster Rugby has been particularly v...

I don’t suppose that Ian Parsley’s resignation from the Conservative party can be regarded as much of a shock.  The North Down UCUNF candidate’s frustrations and the local Tories’ internal discussions were played out daily on his blog. It made for an entertaining read, but it was an odd way of doing party politics.  There was always a suspicion that once Parsley’s work at the Campaign for Social Justice was at an end, he would decide to end his connection with the Conservatives too.   Many of the complaints Ian aired on his blog were perfectly reasonable.  Without doubt the UUP election link up was a botched job.  It’s also true that the post UCUNF fall-out has taken a ridiculously long time to sift through.  Any push to stand Conservative candidates at next year’s Assembly election will be compromised by a short run up to the campaign (in contrast the Tories‘ general election allies have finalised their candidate list). Still, it is one thing for in...

I must confess I’m a little saddened by Paula Bradshaw’s decision to cast herself into the political black hole called Alliance.  The party is awe inspiringly pointless and its pointlessness was underlined by Naomi Long’s refusal to take up a seat in government alongside her Lib Dem allies. Alliance had a perfect opportunity right there to make itself relevant and be something other than a bunch of nice people, whinging about dog dirt.  The party flunked its test spectacularly.  It remains a mere function of Northern Ireland’s divided society, with no vision for politics here, beyond a kind of perpetual suspended animation. Yet, I wonder whether Paula had any credible alternative just at the moment?  As O’Neill mentions , on Unionist Lite, Tom Elliott has so far failed to hand in his homework, set by the Prime Minister at the Tory conference. That leaves the Northern Ireland Conservatives in limbo as they await the go-ahead from CCHQ to begin an Assembly elec...

David Cameron visited Northern Ireland today, for the first time since becoming Prime Minister.  Not quite within the week, as he promised , but pretty close. Significantly the coalition government also set out its position on Northern Ireland in its 'Programme for Government' today.  It reiterates previous Conservative policy and hardly represents an abandonment of the principles behind UCUNF. We will continue to promote peace, stability and economic prosperity in Northern Ireland, standing firmly behind the agreements negotiated and institutions they establish.   We will work to bring Northern Ireland back into the mainstream of UK politics. So the Liberal Democrats too, are now officially signed up to Northern Ireland at the heart of national politics.    Perhaps they should start advocating a similar approach for their sister party, Alliance. After all, developments in the UUP could reward David Ford if he were to reposition his party as broadly support...

What precisely is going on within the Alliance party? During the Hillsborough negotiations David Ford hit out at anyone who wouldn’t prostrate themselves before the policing and justice juggernaut. The expectation seemed to be that all parties were duty bound to accept, sight unseen, any deal which the DUP and Sinn Féin might strike, in case the glorious non-sectarian prospect of an Alliance Minister of Justice became imperilled. A few days later and David Ford is rather less adamant . In fact, at a meeting of party leaders this morning I believe that it has become apparent that a vote of his party council is now being sought, in order to endorse any acceptance of the justice portfolio. Naomi Long first mooted the possibility on Good Morning Ulster and it appears that Ford has succumbed to pressure. We can surmise that Long is unhappy with the prospect of her party effectively approving the programme for government unto which the new justice measures will be grafted. If the East B...

I blogged recently about Alliance's hypocrisy and the party's desperation to get its hands on the justice portfolio. When Sir Reg Empey indicated that the UUP might not accept any deal which the DUP and Sinn Féin concocted, David Ford had something of a strop. And whenever Alliance has a strop about anything, allegations of everyone else's sectarianism are never far behind. Witness the latest piece of Tweeted petulanc e from Gerry Lynch (aka Sammy Morse Slugger fans), Alliance candidate for East Antrim. @ConallMcD If I'd listened to your leader's sectarian, sub-Éirígí, press conference today, I'd be too ashamed to post on Twitter The target is of course Northern Ireland's newest MLA, Conall McDevitt. His leader's press conference is reported here . The gist is, predictably, that Sinn Féin and the DUP have locked other parties out of discussions at Hillsborough and should an agreement eventually emerge, whatever it might comprise, it will not have been...

Does Alliance actually have a philosophy, beyond ‘we are much nicer than everyone else’? David Ford’s party certainly stresses its non-sectarian credentials, but that hardly qualifies as a political programme. With its haste to allege prejudice wherever it sees so much as a Union Flag, and its insistence that Northern Ireland’s politics are best conducted in a vacuum, Alliance is as dependent upon sectarianism as any other party. Last week David Ford lashed out at Sir Reg Empey when he suggested that Ulster Unionists will not endorse, sight unseen, any deal which the DUP and Sinn Féin might concoct on policing and justice. The UUP leader’s demand that his party should be consulted is hardly unreasonable. Ford’s reaction epitomises the spineless and rudderless nature of Alliance politics. Before Christmas he indicated that his own party would name a price for its cooperation in devolving policing and justice. Now, spooked by a suggestion that the Assembly could collapse, and with h...

So Sir Reg Empey has made it plain that, should the DUP strike a deal with Sinn Féin on policing and justice, Ulster Unionists will not necessarily snap to attention. It is not an extraordinary stance. It is far more extraordinary that other parties complain on other occasions about being by-passed by Sinn Féin and the DUP, yet they’re prepared to accept , without conditions, any arrangement which the two parties might reach. Policing and justice has acquired a status, actual and symbolic, which it scarcely deserves. Just because Sinn Féin determines that it is the must crucial issue at the Assembly, doesn’t necessarily mean that other parties become reckless renegades just because they do not share that analysis. It certainly doesn’t mean they are playing fast and loose with the principles of power-sharing. Remarkably Alliance itself had previously indicated that it was not prepared to facilitate devolved justice, at any cost. The Ulster Unionist party is quite entitled to put ...

The News Letter reports that Alasdair McDonnell has proposed an Assembly ‘link up’ between the SDLP, UUP and Alliance. In reality there is nothing particularly new in the story. McDonnell, whose SDLP leadership battle with Margaret Ritchie is well advanced, is simply proposing talks between the three parties, in order to examine whether there is enough common ground to allow cooperation. Ritchie has actually travelled further down this road than McDonnell, having developed a close working relationship with Ulster Unionist colleagues in the Executive. The story certainly emphasises the fact that, effectively, the interests of the UUP and SDLP often collide at Stormont. It makes sense to coordinate efforts to oppose a sectarian carve-up which has marginalised moderate voices. Sinn Féin strenuously opposes the notion that voluntary coalition represents the future for the Northern Ireland Assembly. However political realities could soon overtake the institutional arrangements which p...

Tom Campbell, an Alliance party councillor in Newtownabbey, contributes the latest letter in response to my ‘eighteen candidate’ Belfast Telegraph article. It contains a line which arrested my attention. “At least he (me) was frank enough to admit that his cause is a ‘unionist’ one as opposed to the spin that the new electoral arrangement between the two parties is somehow a ‘post sectarian’ one.” A neat insight into the Alliance mentality, whereby actually taking a position on Northern Ireland's constitutional status deems someone sectarian! It’s rather an important question, don’t you think - which state ought Northern Ireland to form a part of? Yet one party ducks it entirely and levels accusations of bigotry at those who do have an opinion! The Conservatives and Unionists CAN move beyond ‘sectarianism’ by decoupling the political component of unionism from any religious and cultural baggage. It’s a simple enough concept. In time the pact’s unionism can be taken for granted...

Jeff Peel doesn't reveal any sources, but on his (Public) Diary blog he suggests that the Alliance Party is set to 'support' Sylvia Hermon 'rather than' Ian Parsley in the North Down race for Westminster. How this support would manifest itself is not made clear. Conservatives and Unionists have not selected a candidate for North Down, but the former Alliance man, Parsley, has been nominated and it is thought that the Conservative party is unlikely to countenance an endorsement of the current Ulster Unionist MP. Is Alliance set to intervene in another party's selection process or is it prepared not to stand in North Down, should Sylvia Hermon decide to contest the seat as an independent? Perhaps, within the party, there is simply a preference for a figure considered to be left liberal, rather than a recent defector? After all, whether or not, as Jeff contends, Alliance voters are intrinsically sympathetic to the Conservatives, its leadership are a rather diff...

The Conservatives have issued a press release welcoming his arrival: The Conservatives are delighted to announce that Councillor Ian Parsley has resigned from the Alliance Party and joined our Party. Tim Lewis, Chairman of the Conservatives in Northern Ireland, said: “We are delighted to welcome Ian to our Party. Ian is determined to continue his hard work on North Down Council where he will sit as a Conservative. This move once again shows the growing appeal of the Conservatives throughout Northern Ireland.” Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Owen Paterson said: “The mood for change in Northern Ireland is very strong. I am delighted that Ian Parsley, who is a rising star of the new generation of Northern Ireland politicians, has decided to join David Cameron’s Conservative Party in order to help bring Northern Ireland into mainstream UK politics.” Commenting on his move, Ian Parsley said: “Having given significant thought to the future of Northern Ireland I came to the ...

Slugger picks up on a newspaper story that Ian Parsley is set to defect to the Ulster Unionists. The Alliance European election candidate promises a comment later in the day, but observes that the report contains 'substantial inaccuracies' , on his blog. There are inaccuracies and inaccuracies however. If Parsley joins the Conservatives and Unionists, and I believe it will be the Conservative party which he is likely to favour, after taking a job with Iain Duncan Smith's Centre for Social Justice, then he becomes the most significant defection yet. He's young, articulate, moderate and would make a great parliamentary candidate for North Down. In addition, because he is named after a foodstuff, he is very much my two and a half year old niece's favourite politician. Update: Parsley has claimed that he has 'no plans to switch' (according to a BBC report ). However he also said he would consider over the weekend whether his new job made membership of ...

Jeff Dudgeon kindly forwarded his statistical analysis of the recent poll. It's the first time I've examined the results in quite such minute detail and it's fascinating to see exactly how votes transferred as the count progressed. Distribution of Agnew and Parsley’s votes of 42,463 Alban Maginness SDLP 16,325 38% of total New total: 94,814 Jim Nicholson UCUNF 11,392 27% of total New total: 94,285 Diane Dodds DUP 2,914 7% of total New total: 91,260 Jim Allister TUV 4,284 10% of total total: 70,481 Eliminated Non- transferable votes from Alliance/Green: 44% went to Unionists, 38% to SDLP 7,548, 18% of total (No longer an option to transfer to de Brun or Parsley/Agnew) Clearly, as one might expect, the SDLP and UCUNF were the parties to which Alliance and Green voters were most inclined to transfer. The pro-European bias of Maginness' campaign may have given him the edge in this particular election. From anecdotal evidence I believe a substantial number of ...

If the readers of ‘Three Thousand Versts’ are suffering a little election fatigue, believe me, I am not immune from its symptoms either. I admit that I am looking forward to having time to turn my attention towards various other topics. Dmitry Medvedev’s ‘history commission’ is one subject which I had intended to examine, but somehow I haven’t yet managed to galvanise myself sufficiently to write anything about it. Perhaps I might manage some thoughts on Gordon Brown and his creaking leadership of the Labour party a little later. But the European election is undoubtedly an important event for the nascent Conservatives and Unionists force, and as a strong proponent of national politics for Northern Ireland, this blog has naturally become rather preoccupied with the poll. To be entirely honest, if I were to say that I thought Jim Nicholson makes an ideal figurehead to sell to the electorate an exciting new future for Northern Ireland’s politics, I would be lying. The Conservatives ...

Previously we have discussed the DUP’s preposterous insistence that the Programme for Government need not be revisited because it ‘prioritised the economy’. The logic apparently being that any document which is focussed on one particular policy area is immutably appropriate regardless of the fact that prevailing conditions pertaining to that policy area might alter. It is, to put it mildly, a reductionist argument, whatever the PfG’s merits. This site has also long bemoaned the ‘Themselves Alone’ Coalition’s carve-up of government and its non-existent strategy to integrate Northern Ireland’s perceived ‘communities’. One of the first casualties of government led by Sinn Féin and the DUP was the Shared Future initiative. Effectively the goal of building a shared society was dropped and the two parties agreed, in preference, to horse trade the sectional interests of their respective constituencies. Alliance MLA Stephen Farry is the latest politician to point out that not only doe...

“You know, it’s irony on a base level, but I like it. It’s real basic irony, but still you can get a hoot”. Bill Hicks, speaking about extreme pro-life campaigners, attempting to kill abortion performing doctors in the United States. And also the sentiment which sprung most immediately to mind reading these comments from Alliance Youth chair Steven Martin, who shared his thoughts on the Ulster Unionist conference’s one month postponement . "The postponement of the Ulster Unionist Party Conference shows the terrible state their party is in.” Yes. That is an Alliance Party NI member, inferring from a delayed conference, the terrible state of the Ulster Unionist Party! Real basic irony, but you can get a hoot! Incidentally, Reg Empey has been quick to play down the postponement’s significance, stating that the delay is for purely practical reasons.

The row over victims’ commission legislation which has broken out in the Northern Ireland Assembly lends particular pertinence to novelist Glenn Patterson’s sardonic piece, on Comment is Free today, accusing the twin nationalisms axis of “a consensus of crowing” . DUP / SF have of course achieved remarkably little since forming a government, despite their indulgence in constant self-congratulation. And in the unravelling of a deal which the carve-up were attempting to impose, we gain a startling insight into the high-handed fashion by which business is conducted by these two parties. In January it was announced that rather than appoint one victims’ commissioner (which would have cost the public purse approximately £250,000 annually) a victims’ commission comprising 4 commissioners would instead be appointed (at the cost of approximately £750,000 per annum). The ludicrous pretence used to justify this decision being that the First and Deputy First Ministers had been so overwhelme...