Another unlikely event.. Ian Paisley Jnr officially resigns, with “deep humility”, apparently.. and the DUP’s Jeffrey Donaldson, MP, MLA, is sworn in as the new Northern Ireland Executive junior minister. Which just leaves the question of what next for the Paisley brand.. Adds As Mark Devenport points out, the resignation itself took all of 26 seconds.
With perhaps the longest title of any book I’ve read this year, The Media Relations Department of Hizbollah Wishes You a Happy Birthday: Unexpected Encounters in the Changing Middle East gives an insight into the lives of people living in Middle East through the eyes of journalist Neil MacFarquhar. MacFarquhar’s father was a chemical engineer [...] read our review »
Which reminds me…. Platform for Change’s driving force Robin Wilson has produced a corrective to the notion that the lessons of the NI conflict are easily exportable. Like myself, Robin is associated with the Constitution Unit. He introduced his new book in a CU blog which I here reproduce. The water crisis in Northern Ireland [...] read our review »
More as a trailer than a review – as it’s out on Thursday– I draw attention to Fintan O’Toole’s latest polemic “Enough is Enough – how to build a new Republic“. Fintan has been promoting the book vigorously on this side of the water, on Radio 4’s Start the Week and here at greater length [...] read our review »
I named Jeffrey as the front runner shortly after the resignation with Gregory as my second choice. I wonder if either was involved in the alleged secret meetings with McGuinness at St Andrews and earlier.
Congratulations to the wee corporal
And if it doesn’t work out FF will keep the door open 
!
What do Jim Allister and Hilary Clinton have in common?
I’m hearing that Junior had a wee nibble in Ballymena on Saturday and that the manager was tempted to offer him Lobster Sweeney …
MP,MLA,Councillor,Junior Minister,PSNI.Board member,PC,What other Committees? His web site is not very explicite nor up to date . Lets have a statement of all his incomes from all sources as well as all the offices and committee memberships he holds including all his activities.Otherwise he will be subjected to the drip,drip,drip erosion of his credibility and eventually the loss of his position like Junior.Triple mandates are an insult to the electorate and should be stopped forthwith.Donaldson has never had a job outside politics in his working life so he has no outside experience to bring to the political table apart from being a highly consumate consumer of excessive amounts of public money.Does the word hypocracy come to mind.
“I’m hearing that Junior had a wee nibble in Ballymena on Saturday and that the manager was tempted to offer him Lobster Sweeney ..”
Actually I’m led to believe that IP Jr does frequent Montgomeries.
Lobster?, Nevin.
Isn’t that the crustacean that goes red in the face when caught in hot water.
Not really like Junior or his pal.
Jeffrey Donaldson: “Partner in The Financial Research Partnership; independent financial advisers and estate agents.”
I see no company of that name in the Companies Registry but there is an address in Lisburn.
Chekov, if you follow the ‘wee nibble’ link … It would appear that our sources are reasonably reliable.
Joe, it’s reassuring to know that Junior, Robinson and Donaldson have some expertise in the world of property. Perhaps Junior can become one of Ritchie’s SpAds.
Joe Canuck
I don’t know, what do Jim Allister and Hillary Clinton have in common?
Nevin clearly has too much time on his hands if he is looking up the Companies Registry. Perhaps if he spent more time reading a book on company law he would note that partnerships are not registered there but companies are. Maybe he was hoping that there would be another “Sarcon Limited”.
Mike, company law sounds far too dry!! Can you shed some light on the registration of partnerships? And on the mysterious Sarcon (No []) Limited
I think they both sound increasingly desperate, Blooper.
“Mike, company law sounds far too dry!! Can you shed some light on the registration of partnerships? And on the mysterious Sarcon (No []) Limited
Posted by Nevin on Feb 26, 2008 @ 02:21 PM”
My former lecturer in Company Law once told us to ensure we had someone with us at all times if we ever read the Companies (NI) Order just in case we slipped into a coma. Quite simply unless it is an LLP (limited liability partnership) it doesn’t have to be registered although there are rules governing them… if you care to check out the Partnership Act 1890… again it may help to have someone sitting with you armed with a prodding stick.
Just in relation to the mysterious Sarcon (No[]) Limited. It could be any of the shelf companies with that name. It could have been purchased, as these things are, solely for the Ballee lands (if I recall that’s what you had said it was associated with). You will find with these shelf companies that they are generally one size fits all memorandum and articles of association. A companies name can be changed by resolution but a lot of the time it really isn’t worth the bother. I think you’d previously said that Sarcon was the name used by Carson McDowell for its shelf companies, if that’s the case there could be huge numbers for as you would know that particular firm is quite a big player in commercial transactions in NI. I would suspect that the missing number is a clerical error….which do sometimes occur.
Absolutely. His latest buy from Amzon.com forming the basis for his press utterances? Challenging a group of people to sue, when he knows a group can’t be libelled. Depressing stuff.
Kind of reminds of the famous Dick Nixon quote, what’ll Jim Allister do with himself now that he doesn’t have Paisley Jumior to kick around anymore?
Yes, Mike, Sarcon is an anagram of Carson. I’ve mentioned it in connection with the Ballee lands and with the Paisley office in Ballymena (Sarcon No 250 Limited).
Sarcon Compliance Limited is company secretary to Sarcon No 250 Limited but appears not to have registered the (alleged) change of director from Sweeney to Currie, Junior’s father-in-law, within the required 14 days.
I understand LJ Campbell’s office will redress the ‘clerical error’ for the benefit of journalists and others who seek to follow the paper trails.
“enjoy the finest food Ballymena has to offer.”
Now who could resist such temptation? Gourmands across the globe will now be engrossed in their Michelin guides to discover where this paradise of Ballymena might be.
They will be especially tempted by the guarantee that “food is prepared freshly every day” which I am sure will be a refreshing change from yesterday’s leftover slops type of fare served up by those restuarants in London, Paris and New York.
Perhaps there may be a future for Juniour as a restuarant critic with the New Yorker.
Blooper, if I understand the press release correctly, he’s not referring to the actions of a group but to individuals.
“If this is a false claim, then can we expect libel proceedings by the 9 DUP MPs as each of them could claim to be defamed if no such meeting took place.”
Who cares? He’s scraping the barrell and he knows it.
He was at St. Andrews. What happened to him? Did the DUP lock him in a broom cupboard the whole time? – maybe they should have. It’s mischief making.
Mike C – “Nevin clearly has too much time on his hands”
Nevin, as you have so much time on your hands, could you start looking up details of Sinn Fein PIRA linked companies? The money from all their robberies didn’t just disappear.
Take your pick from the Sinn Fein PIRA list of MLAs. While such terrorists have different ways of ‘cleaning’ their money, what about the business men who have helped them?
It seems that Jim’s well has run dry… even if the meeting did take place doesn’t it even matter now?
“MP,MLA,Councillor,Junior Minister,PSNI.Board member… Triple mandates are an insult to the electorate and should be stopped forthwith.”
There’s a statutory bar on Ministers being a member of the Policing Board, so he’ll have to resign his position on it.
We needed some thing to move and fill up the space
We needed some thing this always is just the case
Jefrey with one f Jefrey took up his place
Sat on the carpet and with tablas in hand took up the chase.
Jefrey with one f Jefrey
Now it occurred to me as he drove away,
D = R x T
Jefrey with one f, one f
Jefrey with one f, one f
Spacious, he’s so spacious, Jefrey with one f, one f
Jefrey with one f, one f, one f.
Donaldson, that is.
I was at St Andrews too! There were alot of DUP members kept in the Dark. Any honest person will tell you, the DUP delegation was so large that the vast bulk just drank the free coffee and ate the cream buns.
So unless you were a member of the former uup “advisory” group, the Paisley family or the Robinson clan you were surplus to requirements.
Clearly Jimbo, boxcar Willie, homer Simpson and the other cartoon politicians were kept as far away from the decisions as possible
‘Donaldson has never had a job outside politics in his working life so he has no outside experience to bring to the political table apart from being a highly consumate consumer of excessive amounts of public money.’
Oh No not another NI career politician. Not even a little sideline ‘religion’ revenue producer ?
‘Does the word hypocracy come to mind.’
Indeed it does but to be fair to JD he’s only half as much again a hypocrite as the electorate he serves, for some 70% of Northern Ireland’s income is generated by ‘public’ money, much of it from the English taxpayer .
Let him who is without sin cast the first etc etc !
He timed his last political jump to perfection. This lad has Janus appeal and should get to the top sooner or later . Not afraid to talk to Republicans to get his point across either .
“Spacious, he’s so spacious, Jefrey with one f, one f
Jefrey with one f, one f, one f.”
Now I’m going to sing the Perry Mason theme.
Sammy Morse: ““Spacious, he’s so spacious, Jefrey with one f, one f Jefrey with one f, one f, one f.”
To anyone a little confused… “Space ( I Believe In) ” By The Pixies. Cracking song.
Donaldson was in the curious position for a while where he had been talking to Republicans whilst still in the UUP, but then was barred from doing so once he jumped ship until March 2007 (unless those rumours of ‘secret talks’ are true).
Junior resigns with deep humility!
How words originate-
“Humility” must therefore be brown and steaming, and originally from the word “hum”
Robinson stood down as councillor because of the conflict of interest that being minister would have cost. Lets see Jefferey do the same.
If Robinson done in then no doubt a future judicial review of his many roles is on the cards!
Robinson stood down from local government because, as finance minster allocating money to local councils, there’s a clear conflict of interest, as was the case for Arlene Foster (DOE takes in local government) in Fermanagh I think.
Nigel Dodds, Edwin Poots, Reg Empey, Michael McGimpsey are still councillors in Lisburn/Belfast are they not?
Triple Mandate
Robinson stood down because of a conflict of interest with being the Finance Minister, not a Minister per se.
I’m not particularly defending multiple mandates – and I think the weight of opinion is shifting towards a situation where there won’t be so many. However the public knew how many jobs Donaldson had before they elected him as a Councillor so I suppose we blame the people!
We can add Margaret Ritchie to the Minister/Councillors combo – she’s not stood down from Down DC either.
“While such terrorists have different ways of ‘cleaning’ their money, what about the business men who have helped them?”
P&J;, I think you’ll find that the loyalist and republican paramilitary mafia have got plenty of willing ‘facilitators’: bankers, accountants, solicitors et al.
Sadly, some of the folks you have in mind probably have exemptions from prosecution in the sense that they are critical components of the appeasement (OOPS) peace process.
“I suppose we blame the people!”
Perhaps, Interested, but you could also blame the parties for their selection procedures.
The appointment of Jeffrey Donaldson as Junior Executive Minister in the Office of the First Minister is the first real chance that he has had in a twenty seven year long political career to demonstrate that he possesses a real intellectual depth which will propel him from being a single issue bigot to his hopefully becoming a statesman.
The promotion virtually places him in the position of First Minister, as the present incumbent is in a position similar to Churchill in his last ministry; however Paisley is no Churchill so the mantle of Rab Butler will be easier for Donaldson. Thus he will be able to dominate policy and its implementation more easily.
Donaldson should now become a truly secular politician and break his relationships with the Orange Order; this is a prop he now cannot use for the electorate to take him seriously. He also wants to stop doing the Christian judgemental odour free jobs make it his own private affair and not use as another electoral crutch.
If he makes this jump of faith he could well mould conservative unionism back into one party which would be The UUP/Conservative party and lead this politically fragmented province back into playing a useful and fully constructive part in UK government. Where we might even see Northern Ireland MPs in the cabinet, which would send out the right signals to the rest of the UK electorate and rid us of the negative image that half a century of Paisleyism has given, that term is known universally and is not a complimentary term.
He will also have to take the lead on multiple mandates and the financial abuse of allowances by politicians of all levels in regretfully all parties. Donaldson at the age of forty five now has a chance to make a really great contribution to the future well being of this province. His membership of both parties enables him to achieve great things he is way ahead of Robinson and, though not as intellectually well equipped as Dodds, he is the better communicator. Both are well respected at Westminster by the Conservatives.
Churchill achieved his elevation to PM by as he put it “ratting twice” we will now see now whether Donaldson can carry corn and become a statesman respected across the divide and bring back real issue socio-economic politics to this province with it’s present apology for a governmental structure.
Llamedos, Donaldson appears to be a political lightweight, one with limited leadership potential.
“Lisburn Constituency Office and Advice Centre
The Old Town Hall
29 Castle Street
Lisburn
BT27 4DH”
29 Castle Street is missing from the 2007 5th revaluation List:
” 27D Flat (2nd Floor) £180.00
add 27E Flat (2nd Floor) £125.00
add 31 Offs Stores (Basement,gd,1st) £11,100.00
add 33 Offs Stores (Basement,gd)£2,700.00″
Nevin,
You beat me to it. Llamedos presents an interesting and novel analysis but I am unconvinced that Donaldson has the political gravitas needed. The nonsense over McCann and the Farrell commemoration being a case in point.
I am also unconvinced about his popularity in the DUP. I know that years ago some people in the UUP thought he was too nakedly ambitious and what has transpired since seems to simply confirm that view. I do suspect he will become justice minister as and when the DUP agree to this but I doubt he will get much higher, I would be very surprised if the UUP would welcome him back and I doubt Jim Allister will be courting his defection very assiduously.
According to unconfirmed reports it’s rumoured that several mebers of the DUP were heard celebrating and singing this song up in Stormont today.
One of whom was said to be doing a mean impression of Daniel O’Donnell seemed to be especially delighted while singing at the top of his voice,
According to unconfirmed reports it’s rumoured that several mebers of the DUP were heard celebrating and singing this song up in Stormont today.
One of whom was said to be doing a mean impression of Daniel O’Donnell seemed to be especially delighted while singing at the top of his voice,
Good-bye-ee
Young Ian lied away
Talking shit day by day
With a smile on his lips
and his Junior Ministers pips
upon his shoulder bright and gay
As the Shinners moved in we said,
‘Remember all your false words.’
We should’ve gagged his jaw
warning him, never mind his Da
Shouting out these prophetic words:
Goodbye-ee, goodbye-ee,
Wipe the tear, baby Doc dear, from your eye-ee,
Tho’ it’s hard to part I know,
We’ll be tickled to death to see you go.
Don’t cry-ee, dont sigh-ee,
just learn to stop telling lie-ee’s,
Slan leat, young Doc, cheer-i-o, chin, chin,
Nah-poo, toodle-oo, Goodbye-ee.
At the Assembly the party knew,
The Junior Ministry wasn’t for you,
We’re glad to hear Jeffrey, a turn coat from the UUP,
Sing all the old, old songs she knew.
Then she made a speech and said,
“Thanks big Ian, I’ll do this job with pride,
And to thank you all I’m going to promise every one”,
That I swear I’ll never ever lie,
Goodbye-ee, goodbye-ee,
Wipe the tear, baby Doc dear, from your eye-ee,
Tho’ it’s hard to part I know,
We’ll be tickled to death to see you go.
Don’t cry-ee, dont sigh-ee,
just learn to stop telling lie-ee’s,
Slan leat, young Doc, cheer-i-o, chin, chin,
Nah-poo, toodle-oo, Goodbye-ee.
Turgon, some years ago I pointed out to Robinson and Donaldson how Mowlam gave us the Belfast Agreement Plus via the Common Chapter in Ireland 2000-2006 ie Mowlam moved matters such as East-West infrastructure from Strand 3 to Strand 2. It seemed to go right over Jeffrey’s head – and Peter was too busy playing musical ministerial chairs.
Imagine if you were a former Junior Minister what could you do to keep your self busy with the extra time you would now have.
You call always take up a new hobby or past time to help you forget your problems maybe fishing no, no that helps create problems or golf no,no, no thats just as bad.
I’ve got it train spotting it has certain appeal to it. You can listen to the familiar and resonating sound of the trains SPOOF, SPOOOF, SPOOOOOFFF.
Aye, sure it makes you feel right at home.
Stick at the song-writing, CTB
I will ha ha
Junior minster or shadow Justice Minister?
In any event this is the first step of the Robinson take over. Before today I thought the May investment conference would be the ideal full stop for our First Minister. I sense that now people see the Queens’ visit on Maunday Thursday as the lap of honour.
Junior minster or shadow Justice Minister?
In any event this is the first step of the Robinson take over. Before today I thought the May investment conference would be the ideal full stop for our First Minister. I sense that now people see the Queens’ visit on Maunday Thursday as the lap of honour.
Posted by BonarLaw on Feb 26, 2008 @ 11:53 PM
Two or three weeks ago you where dismissing my prediction of Junior exiting with Senior soon to follow, strange days indeed, most peculiar.
Just mooting an idea:
Jeffery is a a member of the Orange Order and a well known advocate of Christians in Parliament so would this be an attempt by Paisley to prevent a Robinson knive in the back sooner rather than later for i can’t see a Robinson/Donaldson tag team happening.
What has happened to Willie McCrea MLA? Must be awful knowing that these former UUP blow ins are getting prime jobs over them.