Slugger hears that David Burnside is to step down before the next Assembly election. We understand that he wants to concentrate on his business concerns in London. But it raises the question of who will fight for his South Antrim Assembly seat? And it clears the way for a new candidate in the South Antrim Westminster constituency.
I share many of the concerns of Andy Pollak, whose recent post ‘My Response to the Slugger Begrudgers’ zeroed in on the ‘relentless flow of negativity’ of some Slugger commentators. Pollak’s post was largely concerned with the medium of the blog. Indeed, I think the anonymity of the online world encourages extreme discourse and allows [...] read our review »
Is the best way to overcome the legacy of conflict simply to forget about it? Author and journalist David Rieff spoke on this subject last week in a seminar at the Institute for International Integration Studies (IIIS) at Trinity College Dublin. Rieff has recently written a book titled, Against Remembrance (published in Ireland by Liffey [...] read our review »
John Laird (Lord Laird of Artigarvan) is unionism’s jester. His memoir A Struggle To Be Heard ” by a True Ulster Liberal” (from Slugger’s shop on Amazon here) might serve more as a heavy stocking filler than anybody’s idea of a main present. In it he wears the masks of comedy and tragedy to turn the [...] read our review »
Another DUP seat then, thans David
??
Take nothing for granted
sure he is never at the assembly anyway – will make little difference!
Very interesting. With Burnside gone will the UUP draft in some mainland Tory to fight McCrea in South Antrim, or (please make it so) one of the local Tories?
Danny Kinahan seems a natural choice.
slug
Indeed he does.
Lives in a Castle.
Minor aristocrat.
Natural choice for the people of Steeple, Netwonabbey, Glengormley etc. etc.
It will be an interesting story to watch who goes forward for selection and who eventually fights the election for the UUP/Cons.
Maybe see Burnside stand down from Assembly but fight Westminster.
Ignited
He has said he will not be fighting Westminster again. Please let the UUP run Daniel deBurgh Kinahan – it would be such fun! LOL!!!
ABC. Don’t you mean D or E, judging by your comments?
Take nothing for granted
Posted by fair_deal on Feb 23, 2009 @ 05:12 PM
awwwwww…but it winds the wannabe tories up.
Did Burnside or was he pushed? is he part of the price the UUP are paying for the Tory Takeover?
ABC,
Let’s just say it will be interesting to see the replacement process being used.
??
“awwwwww…but it winds the wannabe tories up.”
I realise you gain some enjoyment from this but just making sure you understand were the fun ends.
So that’s the end of super Prod Adrian Cochrane Watson’s political career in the slipstream then.
Danny deBurgh Kinahan ironically would make an excellent alternative MP to absentee landlord Willie McCrea. Good test of UUP?Conservative marriage.
The DUP are going to feel the backlash in South Antrim full force.
Who is Adrian Cochrane Watson?
Surely the point is that there isn’t going to be a by-election, because of the Assembly substitutes system. Candidates submit a list of names and if they resign (or die) the first on the list gets offered the job, and if not them the second. That’s what happened when Michael Ferguson died just before the last election (though none of his subs wanted the job). But there’s a new rule just in that lets the party leader name the replacement. Does it apply yet?
Danny Kinahan was reported as getting the second place at the UUP selection for South Antrim, so should presumably get first choice. But maybe they expected to win two seats, so Burnside’s sub might be Steven Nicholl, the third candidate. Adrian Watson was a candidate in 2003, but didn’t get selected in 2007. However, he is an Antrim Councillor and generally seen round the town as Burnside’s right hand man. Burnside isn’t seen much.
So it’s probably either Kinahan or Nicholl, or else Sir Reg gets to choose. Rumour was that Burnside was going to stand down to prepare for a Westminster challenge without any Assembly responsibilities. Unlikely to persuade many people, and last time he was behind McCrea DUP, McLaughin SF and Ford Alliance. UUP lost their second seat to SF.
The new Tory/UUP candidate will be a Mark Cosgrove.
http://www.uup.org/elected-representatives/councils/cllr-mark-cosgrove_140281191815659669.php
“Constituency…none”
Seems a good prediction.
I suspect Burnside and Cosgrove have better things to do in their businesses, and not reduce their living standards to an MP’s income.
never mind an assembly member’s in the case of Cosgrave
Most Tory MPs (eg Wee Willy Hague – a dozen lucrative directorships) use their positions to make more, not less, money.
But no need to worry about winning S.Antrim. It ain’t gonna happen.
Willy McCrea is a great representative in South Antrim. He is an MP & MLA who is full time rep in Stormont and Westminster raising issues that are important to his constituency and it won’t matter who the UUP put up, they don’t have a chance.
” He is an MP & MLA who is full time rep in Stormont and Westminster”
That statement is just SO wrong
Exactly. How can he possibly be full time in Stormont AND Westminster unless he has some unknown ability to be in two places at once? DOH.
Willie McCrea – full time rep in Stormont and Westminster…
Aye – apart from the time he spends as a full time minister, full time gospel singer, meeting with loyalist terrorists or lying to his electorate. Apart from that he’s a full time politician.
“Exactly. How can he possibly be full time in Stormont AND Westminster unless he has some unknown ability to be in two places at once? DOH.”
tsk tsk
such cynicism abour oor Wullie
it’s obvious the cunning wee blighter has cloned himself, having run out of family members to put on the payroll or stand under the name in Mid Ulster…. I was half expecting to see Tiddles and Rover McCrea on the ballot for the next council elections
#
Exactly. How can he possibly be full time in Stormont AND Westminster unless he has some unknown ability to be in two places at once? DOH.
Posted by SW on Feb 24, 2009 @ 08:24 AM
at lot easier than being on the board of directors of numbers of companys and trying to be a tory frontbencher
at lot easier than being on the board of directors of numbers of companys and trying to be a tory frontbencher
Posted by ?? on Feb 24, 2009 @ 01:27 PM
You’ve tried it then?
David’s a loss: out of the other deadbeats, crooks, souped-up benefit claimants & sectarian killers who comprise Stormont, who exactly could hack it in the private sector, let alone be an out and out success? In fact, who else has?
David’s, well, he’s a tw*t: he’s not a nice man, and even when you agree with him on 95% of the issues (as I do), he’s virtually impossible to get on with – being unreliable, paranoid and easily panicked. But, and it’s a colossal but – he’s not sectarian, he’s never murdered anyone, he’s never justified murdering anyone, he’s not a drug dealer nor is he a smuggler, racketeer or bank robber. As different a man to James Leslie as you could hope to meet in terms of character, but both are a huge loss to politics in Northern Ireland.
I personally regret most that there is now – with the equivocal exceptions of maybe Danny Kennedy and Wee Jeffrey – no one in the Assembly who actually speaks up for the largest, entirely unrepresented strand of Unionist opinion: straightforward, anti-devolutionary pro-integrationist sentiment.
I really do hope that Cosgrove gets the nomination! He is the future for unionism in Northern Ireland. I think Kinahan is too hard line and would imperil our excellent working relationship with SF/IRA. But on the plus side:
One is a millionaire. The other lives in a castle. If the electorate are wise enough to recognise their social superiors I am sure the UUP stand a wonderful chance at regaining the South Antrim Westminster seat!