Paisley Jnr to step down
The BBC’s Gareth Gordon has reported on Talkback that Northern Ireland junior minister, the DUP’s Ian Paisley Jnr, is expected to make a statement shortly.. and the expectation is that he will resign from his position as a junior minister. I’ll update when we get that statement. Update Talkback confirms Ian Paisley Jnr has resigned as Junior Minister. But will he continue to claim the rent mortgage for his constituency office? And will Ian Paisley Snr continue to do likewise? More In this BBC report. You can listen to the statement here [RealPlayer file]
Mr Paisley tendered his resignation to his father, Ian Paisley Snr, the first minister a short time ago. “I can’t express strongly enough that I am not going because of some hidden or some revealed wrongdoing,” he said. Mr Paisley, who will stay in the post until a replacement is found, said he would contiue in his role as an assembly member for North Antrim.
must be the first time someone in politics has resigned to spend less time with his family…..
Posted by darth rumsfeld on Feb 18, 2008 @ 01:03 PM
Couldn’t resist repeating this again!
So who is next in the DUP for the chop?
So much for no smoking gun, eh Junior?
Surely this is goodbye for Westminster for the boy.
Was he culled because of blue tongue or forked tongue
Moo U P
Arlene Foster next for the chop! she misused her ministerial powers and was if they hadnt have been found out she probably would have went ahead with Young Ian jnr’s recommendation!
…Meanwhile in Dundela Avenue, a dark brooding figure sits in the dark methodically stroking his white cat. Before him sits a nervous young man, perspiring profusely.
“So, Hamilton, you want to be Junior’s successor? You know the deal. Report everything back to me, and if you see the old man about to put his foot in it- do… absolutely nothing. And get as many joint photographs as possible with McGuinness. Close the door behind you”
The youth exits and a thin smile crosses the lips of the man. Another step in the great plan has been taken…..
Talkback was today totally anodyne about the heir apparents resignation; it is obvious that the media do not really want to take Slugger seriously. The feeds they get are well worth following up.Ian junior could be going to Trump the generous Mr Todd, who they say installed the kitchen and bathroom at Laverys Bridge road. Grant you it might be another scurilous rumour.Some say there is paperwork somewhere.Reports also show that portacabins might also be on the move. Also the farce of paying Some Fiddling M.P.s to boycott their jobs in Westminster and enjoy double mandates needs further investigation.Grant you they might be feeling guilty about Airey Neave and Ian Gow. Airey Neave was a real brave warrior he did a home run from Colditz. what brave deeds have all the Volunteers done?. Come on Gerry and Martin; are you not a writer Gerry you could ghost for Martin as well.
It looks as if all youse leaders need to give a lead in this transparency campaign to detail to us the electorate exactly how all your elected members spend all our money; Including the Quangos and all the other beneficiaries of patronage we have a right tknow it is our money. Reg has started but he must not forget his mate Portacabin Billy and also get this libel litigation sorted;out so the big mouthed Hennessy Barrel pays and not the members of the party. Reg has gotten himself a new BRUSH which needs a new shaft and then he can start the big Spring clean up. There is a veritable mountain of very debatable rotten vegetables to clear out including siblings, fathers, sons, wives, daughters and we have’nt started on the in laws not to mention the common laws.
The bad news is all those naive twits in Westminster,that is the ones that go and take the oath, have so abused the tax payers trust and generosity that very few people trust them with their allowances or monies that are destined for their party, have now got us wanting to investigate the whole body politics behaviour and other arcane and dubious practices.
darth, that was beautiful…
IPj outed as republican spy! That would be asking too much.
Any news on Junior’s replacement in OFMDFM? Me thinks a youngster may be in line (Simon Hamilton??)
“must be the first time someone in politics has resigned to spend less time with his family….. ”
Posted by darth rumsfeld on Feb 18, 2008 @ 01:03 PM
Move over, Danny Kennedy, there’s a new kid in town!
Congratulations to Keith Harbinson on removing Ian Jur.
Sure Darth could have had Reg’s job never mind Dannys if he had been brave enough.
R.I.P
sorry wrong thread.
Eileen just been seen coming out of Elliotts (Hire Service) Ltd Belfast, with boxes thought to contain sack cloth and ashes.
Considering the frequency with which they may be required over the next while, and coming from Ballymena, you would have thought an outright purchase from M&S;would have been better value for money. And, she could always have loaned them to, close family friend, Martin, from time to time.
Erratum: for brave, as in, “Sure Darth could have had Reg’s job never mind Dannys if he had been brave enough”, as employed by a previous poster, please see wrong.
If Darth had been wrong enough to consistently moo and gurn alongside all the other Turtle applauding fools at Unionist Councils past, then shure, he’d have a fine ole carrer in today’s modern, getbehind, I mean, getahead, er, turtly busted UUP. I hardly think he needs to be abused for declining to be [trys to think of name of comically obscure UUP MLA, can't even do that, gives up & goes back to trading screen].
Ahah, for ‘carrer’, please read, ‘career’; for ‘carer’, please read the ad the Cosa Paisley are soon to place in the Tele.
Fair play to Nevin, I remember him banging on about this waay back in the day on the Talk Back message board.
Good line from Darth regarding IPJ spending more time with his family. He needs to be careful about copyright law!!!! Jeremy Paxman used that same line three weeks ago on Newsnight in referring to Conway the MP who arranged wages for all his family. I will concede it was an appropriate line to use in this case but credit to Jeremy as the original author is surely due? So Darth own up you pinched the line! We still think it was a brill one to use.
To be fair to IPJ, it is pretty unusual for people to resign in NI politics over matters like this. Partly I think because we haven’t had local accountability. Ministers in the NIO who made errors, Hain and others, never resigned over anything. (Mandelson’s resignation was not related to the job he was doing in the NIO).
I think it does illustrate the democratic nature of political system, when a party of government feels it will lose votes unless the minister resigns. And it shows the local media developing teeth, the News Letter was full of IPJ stories this last week. So, in one sense, as Michael Shilliday says, it is progress.
I was worried that our local system would not be democratic enough that ministers would have to resign. But this episode in a strange way gives me hope.
There’ll be many penitent prayers said in the Paisley households tonight!
There’ll be many penitent prayers said in the many Paisley households tonight! lol
I can’t believe that he has resigned over this latest nonsense. Surely 80% + of them in Stormont are at the same racket?
Nor is it credible to say that this was an attempt to stop the momentum against his Da – both Paisleys are too smart to buy into that for a second.
No, I suspect the only credible reason for IPJ’s sudden and out-of-character resignation could have been the fear of how far these lazy bloody journalists were going to go.
Who will the Tele Special INvestigations Unit turn their attention to now?
I trust the Romanists amongst us with light a candle at mass in memory of Junior’s ministerial career. As for myself, I plan to do my mourning in a pleasant spa.
Grassy Noel, do you mind the time the BBC Talkback team removed the fictional yarns about Patsy McCash, the Port Moon Trust, Ben Gore, Croyer Hill, Burning Passions Bookshop and Massage Parlour, Cashlaun Castle, the Pleasures of Plaiskin Wine Bar and Deli, a Clip Behind The Ear Barber’s Shop, the Moyle Maidens (dancing at the Sheddings), Tonduff Times, Ballintoy Bugle et al? They ran for a few weeks and then, puff, they were gone. I wonder who complained. I hope I’m not responsible for putting dangerous ideas into Junior’s head!!
Turgon
I would’nt overplay the TUV in all of this and I do not believe it’s a panic, I think that is just a line you and the rest of the TUV are looking to spin. I’ve been calling for him to go for weeks now an absolute embarassment and liability
Will McGuinness now resign, given all the heavy work his associates have bene involved in? Will he f**k!
Bigger Picture,
Me spin. surely not?
Regards
Junior is quoted in the Belfast Telegraph as saying that he dealt with 18,500 constituency queries last year. Wow. The PM should consider himself lucky that he only had to deal with 6 of them.
Dont know whats all the fuss about.Junior paid might have paid over the odds but at least people could see what he got for it. Now what about Portaloo Billy Armstrong,he pays his wife and daughter and rents his portaloo(office) from his wife.It seems that he paid her over £50k for rent.Should he not stand down? Then again we would be no better of as his daughter and wife could be his subsitutes.
Reggie can shout about Junior all he wants but we are watching what he does with Portaloo Billy.
Come on Reggie show us how sincere you are about cleaning up your party.We watch with interest.
All we need now is for senior to retire.
Crataegus,
Indeed. Not just desirable but logical.
Junior Minister culled over brown-tongue
A Junior Minister & MLA is to be culled on a County Antrim holiday resort following confirmation of the brown-tongue disease.
On Friday, Agriculture Minister Michelle Gildernew said an MLA from the area who contracted the disease had been put down.
The MLA had been imported from the Lisburn area. A further 23 MLAs and 9 MPs will now be slaughtered following further tests.
Ms Gildernew said the area would remain under restriction.
“This result does not mean that the disease is circulating here, and at present the north retains its brown-tongue free disease status,” the minister said.
18,500 queries a year.
Assuming 2 weeks holidays and a 6 day work week, that’s slightly over 60 a day.
What a superman; he obviously wasn’t paid enough.
Maybe he should have used a Mumbai call centre.
Ian Paisley Jnr’s replacement will be very interesting.
Ian Senior relied heavily on his Junior Minister.
If it’s Simon Hamilton Peter Robinson’s agenda will be advanced.
It it’s Edwin Poots then the Paisley agenda will be held steadfast.
Who we get really depends on how long Senior intends to stay. If he intends to stay for long he will need someone close to his thinking.
“Who we get really depends on how long Senior intends to stay. If he intends to stay for long he will need someone close to his thinking.”
I suspect that Robert Mugabe is quite happy with his current job.
Methinks you have all missed the implications for Senior in this. He is bang to rights for having broken Westminster rules on allowances.
Only Declan O’Loan appears to be catching on to this.
Nuala will be pleased.
one paisley down, one to go.
Would have to agree with michael shilliday in an earlier comment, if this was any other western democracy he would have been gone months ago.
think paisley senior will finish his first year in office and then resign. I would expect him to go sometime round start of May. Very short time at the top for the doc, spends 35 years trying to get there and then only gets to spend one at the top!
Da, what are we gonna do about all these rumors they’re spreading about me?
Don’t worry, son, we can take our inspiration from The Book. Lemme see – here it is – Abraham and Isaac.
What do we do, da?
Well, I make a gesture of offering you as a sacrifice and then an angel comes down and saves you at the last minute.
Are you sure, Da? Will it work?
Trust me, son. I’m a politician.
Elvis P, it was on Slugger this morning:
““The House of Commons halted this practice a number of years ago”
Would the Church Street office be used as the North Antrim Westminster Constituency office by both Paisleys, the MP and the research assistant?
What about 142A Main Street, Bushmills? Should Paisley jr be paying rates on an office that is used for political purposes by himself and his DUP councillor colleague, David McAllister?
BTW, what is the name of the company that is supposedly receiving the rent?
Posted by Nevin on Feb 18, 2008 @ 11:24 AM”
Glad to see the sword fall on one of the many Damocleses otherwise having a ball beneath it in Stormont at the taxpayers’ expense. Just hope that the electorate string up more swords and the media continue to blow at them.