Warm relations since 2004?
Malachi O’Doherty asks how long did SF and the DUP have the measure of one another? Newsnight may provide a half answer. This profile of Paisley (complete with him grabbing Ivan Little by the lapels for daring to suggest he would have to talk to Sinn Fein in November 2003), has Martin McGuinness name Autumn 2004 as the time his view of the ‘big man’ changed. That was the time of the Agreement (St Andrews 0.9); postponed, ostensibly, because Paisley wanted photographs of IRA decommissioning. It was also when Paisley’sit’s now or never… came down to a no deal… Or was it just a case of last minute figuring in some (previously undisclosed) potholes ahead?
Tags: Negotiations
Certainly I think there is also some scope in discussing Paisley’s occasionally erratic leadership over the past two years.
In todays “Mirror”, Newton Emerson goes much. much, further, citing several examples of bizarre and embarrassing comments which Paisley has made to local press and media hacks in the past few weeks.
Newton has basically indicated that Paisley’s old age is sadly now beginning to play tricks on him, and that Newton feels that Paisley is now incapable of performing the full range of duties associated with the First Ministry. He feels that it may be in the DUP’s best interests to end his tenure sooner rather than later before the situation gets any worse…