It is no secret that Jim Allister intends to contest the North Antrim seat in next year's Westminster election. There remains some doubt over who his DUP adversary will be, but it has been largely assumed that Ian Paisley Junior may try to take over from his father. Even the bookies are assuming it, and offering odds that Paisley Junior will win?
But today's bombshell might just open up the contest a bit.
The BBC reports that: "The Policing Board has confirmed that Ian Paisley Junior approved the secondment of PSNI officers to train their counterparts in Libya.
Mr Paisley was the chair of the Human Resources sub-committee when it was asked to approve the move in November 2008.
Earlier his party colleague, Nigel Dodds, said whoever approved the move was "living on a different planet""
Libya is, of course, unionism's big big bogeyman at the moment. Between supporting anti-Libyan motions at Stormont, pushing the British to do something, and organising (one-sided) groups of victims to travel to Libya, the DUP in particular are trying to milk the issue for every extreme-unionist vote it can get.
But now it seems that Paisley Junior took his eye off the ball, and has left his goalposts wide open for a free kick from Allister, the darling of the extreme unionists.
Could this turn out to be the point at which the North Antrim seat really becomes an open contest?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
14 comments:
Wow Mini-me has really cocked up this one. Could you imagine what would happen if anybody else in the DUP had made such a massive error. They would be for the high jump and no mistake.
I see Jim Allister has called for Ian to resign from the policing board.
Horseman
Have you seen the motion put down by the DUP at Stormont? To encourage young Protestants to stay at home and attend QUB. It seems that your previous Blog Posts about the Protestant Brain Drain are starting to worry some in the Protestant community.
Horseman,
Probably sounds crazy but do you think Sinn Fein really wants unification?
Wouldn't they basically end up a small minor party (like Sinn Fein in ROI) if unification ever happened?
Maybe I have just not heard it, but I don't think I have ever heard a plan from Sinn Fein that goes into detailed information about the benefits of unification and how a United Ireland would look.
I am open to correction.
SF is mainly for the thicker Irish Nationalist, those who enjoy street protests etc - so you'll wait a long time for anything concrete from that party.
Having said that, they do have a reputation for hard work and not just amongst Nationalists.
SF's biggest problem amongst Unionists is that they keep putting forward candidates who were associated with The PIRA in some manner, even their so called Unionist Outreach Officer. This is insane and shows how stupid they are. Unionists will have no interest in them until this practice stops. Given the fact all their leaders were involved with PIRA, I suspect this will take at least twenty years.
(insert any Unionist political party here) is mainly for the "religious" Unionist, those you enjoy marching through Catholic neighborhoods where they are not wanted, celebrating a battle that happened 300 years ago.
Watcher, thanks for the info. I had thought Alliance was the political wing of PIRA.
I also agree that if any of these political parties had half a brain they would try to put forward candidates that are not despised by the other side.
Like the current head of the DUP, who invaded a town in a "foreign" country and held a military parade. Then instead of going to jail he paid a fine.(that is a man that stands for his convictions!) Has also had made comments supporting loyalist terrorists.
Are the former leader of the DUP. Who basically single handed started 30 years of trouble because he didn't like a Irish flag hanging in a shop.(is he that insecure?)
So it works both ways...
Watcher, you must like "erroneous garbage" since your on here so much.
"I love the republican narrative: Catholicism in Ulster cannot be loyal to, or wish to remain in, the British State.
It is the sort of feeble thinking underpinning erroneous garbage such as Ulster's Doomed.
My God, should the Secretary of State ever call a Border Poll in the far dim and distant future, won't the Shinners be in for a hell of a shock!!!"
http://atangledweb.squarespace.com/httpatangledwebsquarespace/patriots-in-the-park.html
Anonymous said:
"(insert any Unionist political party here) is mainly for the "religious" Unionist, those you enjoy marching through Catholic neighborhoods where they are not wanted, celebrating a battle that happened 300 years ago.
Watcher, thanks for the info. I had thought Alliance was the political wing of PIRA.
I also agree that if any of these political parties had half a brain they would try to put forward candidates that are not despised by the other side.
Like the current head of the DUP, who invaded a town in a "foreign" country and held a military parade. Then instead of going to jail he paid a fine.(that is a man that stands for his convictions!) Has also had made comments supporting loyalist terrorists.
Are the former leader of the DUP. Who basically single handed started 30 years of trouble because he didn't like a Irish flag hanging in a shop.(is he that insecure?)
So it works both ways..."
Yes, no hyperbole there...
Let's take those statements one by one:
"those you enjoy marching through Catholic neighborhoods where they are not wanted"
Not many parades like those my friend. Very few Loyalist parades go through overwhelmingly Catholic areas. Seen any on The Falls Road recently? Some do, of course, pass by Catholic areas - a completely different issue, I'm sure you'd agree.
"Like the current head of the DUP, who invaded a town in a "foreign" country and held a military parade. Then instead of going to jail he paid a fine.(that is a man that stands for his convictions!) Has also had made comments supporting loyalist terrorists."
Yes, but that's not quite the same as being an ex-bomber or proven murderer is it? Nor is it the same as being a widely assumed PIRA chief of staff (a role filled by at least two SF leaders - allegedly)
"Are the former leader of the DUP. Who basically single handed started 30 years of trouble because he didn't like a Irish flag hanging in a shop.(is he that insecure?)"
LOL. So Paisley alone started the troubles? I'm sure he played his part, but the population of NI was already well conditioned by the time Ian appeared - both sides.
Drew said:
"Watcher, you must like "erroneous garbage" since your on here so much."
LOL. Just part of my 'Unionist Outreach' program mate!
The more I read the comments here, the more I begin to feel that Eire might be better off without N.I. It obtained its current high standard of living and prosperity without it and would have to bankroll N.I. and deal with a large, presumably hostile Protestant community, a previously unknown factor. To be sure the Irish in N.I. would gain but I don't think the ones in the south would. They already have their state and don't have to worry about the Orangemen. Perhaps a careful partition to include as many Catholics as possible while keeping out the Unionists might be best. Perhaps some voluntary re-location of people, with compensation, could be done.
Yes, I believe that if Northern Ireland can't be secured with peace within The UK as it is, then re-partition could be looked at. Areas such as The West Bank of The Foyle, Strabane and Newry/South Armagh would be obvious candidates for transfer to The ROI. Of course, The ROI would have to agree to take these areas and a vote would have to be taken amongst the people concerned before it could happen.
Not today, but possibly in future.
The futures GREEN and WHOLE.
Not orange and fragmented.
MPG .....
As I say, the main problem would be getting The ROI to take places like South Armagh and Strabane. Strabane was recently given the title of 'The Worst Town to Live in in The UK'...
watcher gone just watch
Post a Comment