The answer to Fair Deal’s question this morning, is Jim Allister has gone… no indications that he’ll resign the seat… He’s a loss to the party, and by far the most senior (and most talented of their dissenters)… Interesting to see if any others follow his example.
Short answer: very little, other than he enjoyed the environs of Hillsborough Castle, enjoyed working with the local politicians, and has Gerry Adams to thank for Bobby his dog. Peter Mandelson’s book The Third Man has captured media headlines in recent weeks as the Times serialised the most juicy bits. But what did he have [...] read our review »
Not according to metallurgists Tim Foecke and Jennifer Hooper McCarty whose research has suggested that dodgy Harland and Wolff rivets were at fault for allowing the Titanic’s hull to be ripped apart by the pressure of the iceberg impact. With six of the hull’s chambers exposed to the Atlantic waters, the “unsinkable” ship lasted less [...] read our review »
Coming up to the Halloween holiday, some people might be frightened of the idea of Voices from the Grave – but for others, the chance to hear an oral history of the Troubles from the mouths of two (in)famous protagonists, PUP leader and former UVF member David Ervine, and Brendan “The Dark” Hughes, is not [...] read our review »
To those who are saying Allister was elected because it was him and not because he was a DUP candidate are living in a dream world.
The DUP vote is by far the strongest of any of the parties and Jim Allister was far from well known when he stood for that seat. Unlike Jeffrey Donaldson who gets a high personal vote which was not affected by his switch of parties.
If Allister was to resign and fight for the seat again as an independant he wouldn’t stand a chance, whomever the DUP put up would paste him. If the recent election taught us anything its that the DUP vote is very robust and they got a huge mandate for their strategy. Jim is dreaming and should resign.
Cockles,
Allister’s name was on the ballot paper so he is the person who was elected, not the DUP party.
I can’t think of a single polician who would resign their seat so why should he?
He was elected to represent the people of Northern Ireland and not the DUP. Therefore it doesn’t matter if he wouldn’t get elected now in a by-election, he has been elected and his mandate is for a further two years.
If he had any credibility of course Allister should resign. He signed up to the DUP manifesto and now is unable to follow through on his commitments because he didn’t expect SF to make the steps that they have.
He’s following a different path now (opposing the new government of N.I.) so he should let the electorate decide whether they want to go with him.
Like the individuals he is accusing in his own party he’s unable to resist the stature that comes with his role as an MEP.
Will the sock puppet on this thread pack it in. You are welcome to comment but desist from using multiple names.
Comrade
You were correct.
“Allister’s name was on the ballot paper so he is the person who was elected, not the DUP party.”
Allisters name and the DUP’s name were on the ballot paper, he was elected as a candidate running FOR the DUP. As has already been noted, people vote for the party in the european election not the individual – most people in NI would be hard pushed to know the names of any of the MEPs. The Euro election is used as a litmus test of where parties stand.
I think Jim is by far and away NI’s best and most able MEP – and probably one of the most able politicians in NI. Its a huge loss for him to leave the DUP.
However, sometimes the pure academic intelligence gets in the way of practicality and ‘political intelligence’ and I do have some problems with Jims rationale for leaving. I do though, respect him for taking his decision, and not attempting to wrap it up in some big rallying call or other.
However, his stuff about Plan B was a bit ludicrous. Claims that it cant exist because he hasn’t seen it dont really ring true. Of course he wont have seen it – it was hardly a plan which would ever be drawn up by DUP Party Officers and the Government aren’t really going to bother putting any plans which are aimed at punishing the DUP forward for their approval. I agree that full-blown Joint Soverignty isn’t legally possible, but that doesn’t mean that the Government couldn’t make life for unionists increasingly uncomfortable with greater and greater influence from Dublin.
He mentioned a few times about his vote in 04 and I think this is some of his weakest ground. He used the phrase about “his electorate” and frankly I don’t think there is anyone out there who thinks Jim Allister got the votes which he received simply on some personal vote. It is crazy to attempt to argue that it was anything other than a Party vote. Yes, he was the person the DUP put forward, but it stretches his credibility to the limits to attempt to suggest that he was such a big name that the people were flocking to him but they wouldn’t have voted for another DUP candidate.
Lets face it also, Jim has taken a personal decision which is one for his conscience. Fair enough… – but its not as if he shouldn’t have seen the prospect of eventual power sharing with SF coming over the horizon. The DUP’s ‘Devolution Now’ was plastered all over his election manifesto, and a lot more recently it didn’t take a genius to work out that SF were likely to get into Government.
It for him seemed to boil down to the Army Council – not that he’s arguing this body is actually doing anything at the minute – not even that it is actually meeting, but that it continues to exist in whatever form. Frankly, I’d love a statement from them too saying that it had been wound up – but if its not organising crime and terrorism, then exactly what threat does it pose?
Its up to him whether he resigns his seat as MEP – frankly its stupid every time to have calls for seat resignations. Particularly stupid in this case when the DUP did benefit from Donaldson et al. Mind you, there’s a much better case that Jeffrey Donaldson in particular had a personal vote in Lagan Valley than Jim does across NI. However, if he sees the term out then that will finally be it. I really hope for his own sake he doesnt contest any by-election or future Euro election. At that point he would become even more of a comedy character than Bob McCartney and it would be a very sad end to his career and something I wouldn’t like to see.
Maybe its a lesson for the DUP though – when people resign once they tend to make a habit of it.
Cockles,
“as has already been noted, people vote for the party in the european election not the individual.”
No they don’t. There were seven candidates, not seven parties in that election. The parameters of the election are quite clear, those elected have a five-year mandate, not the party that elected them.
Otherwise, the UUP could, if it wanted, sack Nicholson now and replace him with Empey, for example. They can’t.
As for what you believe the Northern Ireland electorate use the European elections for, namely a litmus test, that could well be true but it doesn’t change what they are actually for, which is to send an elected representative to the European Parliament.
Strictly legally and electorally he got the mandate but politically people were voting for the DUP.
NI is of course the only part of the UK where a Party cant replace an MEP with another party member. Maybe we should have the list system here too.
“Strictly legally and electorally he got the mandate but politically people were voting for the DUP.
NI is of course the only part of the UK where a Party cant replace an MEP with another party member. Maybe we should have the list system here too.”
Of course he should resign and fight a by election but he won’t because he’d lose. But we certainly shouldn’t have a list system. Its not democratic, instead of members with semi-personal mandates we would get party placemen.
Anyone know what Jim Wells is planning to do?
Apparently UKIP have been courting Mr Allistair. He may find a home yet.
They might start by getting his name right.
Maybe Bob could find a home for Jim! At least then Bob and his party would have an elected politican somewhere, even if elected with the vote of an other party!
Just imagine what would happen if these two great law men got togeter maybe they could sort the whole of Europe out the way they sorted out Ulster!
I had a quick look at Jim Allister’s website tonight. Someone has being doing a hasty editing job on it , bringing it up to date with the resignation and changing the tenses wrt his DUP membership. They haven’t done a thorough job though as to do so would leave the website and Jim bereft of policies hence there remain various links and downloads to DUP policy documents ( which he will probably claim are “his” policies) and a link to a download of all his speeches ( with DUP branding). A cursory look over this document confirms ( should there be any doubters) that Jim stood and was elected as the DUP candidate in the European elections. he got the Ian Paisley /DUP vote not the Jim Allister vote. I predict that he will resign within 6 months, without party support and the significant financial resources of someone like Bob McCartney and the likely departure of the young men in suits working for him( who likely want a future in politics here) he will become an increasingly isolated figure.
But Bob has retired from politics after the election he said he wouldn’t be participating anymore which is a pity but it does show humility at least which is not a trait normally associated with politicians!
It’ll be interesting to watch the fall out of Allisters resignation.
“Humility”, Bob McCartney? Hardly.
Humiliated maybe.