“I am not a Tory and I shall not be taking the Tory whip.”
The Irish News‘ Diana Rusk has been speaking to the independently minded MP for North Down, Lady Sylvia Hermon.
The North Down MP said she would make a final decision over her political future following a key constituency meeting scheduled for Thursday. “Once I hear the views from my friends and colleagues in the North Down UUP Association I will be much better placed to decide the best way forward in terms of the Westminster election.” Lady Hermon said. “I may be left with no other option than to run as an independent candidate.”
Also from the Irish News report
She said she remained opposed to the Ulster Conservatives and Unionists – New Force arrangement.
“I have been repeatedly told by the party leadership there will be no derogation of party policy in relation to taking the Tory whip at Westminster,” she said.
“I am not a Tory and I shall not be taking the Tory whip. We have an impasse at the present time which I expect to be discussed fully and openly at our local North Down Association AGM this Thursday evening in Bangor.”
Lady Hermon said she had been given tremendous support and loyalty by the association but realised that it also remained loyal to the party.
“I feel very responsible for the mandate given to me in 2005 at the general election,” she said.
“I stood as an Ulster Unionist candidate. I didn’t stand as an Ulster Unionist/Tory New Force candidate.
“I regard my party as having moved away from me and I feel terribly sad about that.”
Comments (53)
Cheers folks nothing new here
way past my sleep time
Tuck me up matron please
“Sylvia Hermon should get on with joining Brown’s Labour Party and stand as their candidate in the election. This is the inevitable outcome, so she might as well do it now. ”
If you are going to develop Labour in Northern Ireland North Down is not the place to start – it’s like a Tory V Liberal constituency in the South of England. Sylvia might well be New Labour but she is not going to attach the “New Labour” tag that might well push away nice middle class voters looking for a change of government. “Independent” is much easier allowing her to cast her net as wide as possible.
Northern Ireland is not going to turn Tory, Liberal, Labour, but elements of “Governmental” or “National” politics are emerging
1) LIBERAL
Some of you might be thinking a Lib Dem/Alliance merger. Consider the words of Brian Lenihan TD the Fianna Fail Minister for Finance when replying to Labour’s charge in the Dail that he was a Celtic Tory saying “Our allies in the United Kingdom are the Liberal Party. That is where our allegiance lies in the UK. They have a great record in relation to this country.”
The new SDLP Deputy Leader Patsy McGlone is only on record in the last 18 months saying:
‘‘On a personal level, it is a widely-held view of many of us in the SDLP that the natural alliance is with Fianna Fáil. Quite clearly, Fianna Fáil is representative of the same body, socially and economically as ourselves”.
Patsy is Alasdair McDonnell’s key backer in the SDLP parliamentary party. Expect the SDLP to get a name change and become Fianna Fail’s sister party when Big Al becomes leader – they want to team up for the 2014 Euro election to win an MEP seat and get a bit of help in any future local elections. Alliance can muddle on as they are, but it won’t just be the Tories cramping their style.
2) LABOUR
The two Labour Parties (Irish & British) are deeply reluctant entrants on the NI political scene. Both now have membership forums here. British Labour due to a court case taken against them, Irish Labour due to the Northern Ireland members of Democratic Left they inherited when they merged in 1999. Both still hide behind the SDLP “sister party excuse” to keep NI at arms length.
The SDLP “sister party excuse” will most likely be stripped away from the two Labour Parties very soon. Neither has any enthusiasm for the NI political scene. For the ex Workers Party lead Irish Labour Party Nationalism is an anathema and if the get SDLP defectors they’ll look to link their own organisation to the British Labour Party. For the British Labour Party they traditionally considered Ireland a matter for the Irish Labour Party and later the SDLP. With no SDLP they’ll happily do a deal with Irish Labour. Both would be happy to jointly sponsor a Labour organisation ploughing the narrow furrow that is the centre-left of the “United Community” section of the electorate.
3) CONSERVATIVE
There’s no shortage of Conservatives in Northern Ireland – Orange & Green. The only question is how many parties do they need?
The DUP & UUP need to form a bigger party than Sinn Fein in Stormont – so that will allow for some rationalisation of conservative parties.
Fianna Fail although nominally in the Liberal camp has received much admiration from the Tory right with Brian Lenihan’s “tough” budgets. A realigned SDLP tied Fianna Fail would make a happy partner for a new Conservative & Unionist Party in Stormont.
4)THE REST
The question for Sinn Fein is – do will sit with a future Fianna Fail/Tory Executive in Stormont or on the opposition benches with United Community Labour, Alliance and Green MLAs? Either way it is a far cry from 2016 and a United Ireland.
I didn’t forget about the TUV, but I thought it would be harsh on the Conservatives to include those nut jobs in the mix.
JD I didn’t realise that the “former SDLP led” Foyle and South Down were pro Tory Fianna Fail leaning constituencies, they certainly haven’t been UU-Tory seats since the days of gerrymandering. Any SDLP merger now with a Fianna Fail (and I leave the fada off deliberately) party now would probably hasten a poll anihilation by Provisional Sinn Féin. Fianna Fail is a small party in Northern Ireland just like the Tory wing of UCUNF. I expect regionalism to destroy UCUNF and Fianna Fail-SDLP pacts and talks of mergers for a long term.