Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Paisley goes
Just heard it on BBC news: Paisley is to resign as first minister after the investment conference. The BBC website reports him as saying that: “I came to this decision a few weeks ago when I was thinking very much about the conference and what was going to come after the conference.”
He also said that it was up to the DUP who replaced him:
“This is not the Church of Rome. This is not Apostolic succession and I have no right to say who will succeed me.
“The person will succeed me when the mark is on the paper and the ballot is cast. “Whoever that will be will have my support and encouragement and if he wants to take my advice, he will get that advice if he asks for it, but I will not be sitting like Putin in Russia saying to the president ‘This is the way you have to go’.
“When I make a break, it is a break.”
Well there you go then.
Turgon @ 04:07 PM
I’m surprised at how little I actually care. All it means is a more hardline, more able, less tainted Unionist controlling their veto at Stormont. Bad news for SF.
Posted by on Mar 04, 2008 @ 06:14 PMCan he hold on until May. The halo over his mitre might be tarnished when the Westminster authorities have finished with him.Rents for similar properties are approx £12.85- 4500sq ft is a big office for an octogenerian free loader and his compromised son.Surely Sean Woodward should sack junior from the policing board.Reg Empey wants to sort out Billy Armstrong now and show us he is a leader. This province does not deserve such a spineless bunch of leeches with multiple mandates it makes NI look like a banana republic.
Posted by on Mar 04, 2008 @ 06:17 PMGoodbye
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmS41_JdVLg
Posted by on Mar 04, 2008 @ 06:20 PMI think the Church of Rome is probably more democratic than the DUP is - but they’re both cut from the same cloth. And that’s the rub of it. In the end Paisley became what he professed to hate.
I won’t be sorry to see the back of him but I’m not relishing the passing of the baton to the younger generation of DUPers who will, no doubt, try to out Paisley Paisley to reassure the grass roots…
Posted by on Mar 04, 2008 @ 06:20 PMyes jo
it’d be a right coup to promote jeffrey as deputy, signalling as you say to the UUP; let’s join together. I’m assuming Robbo wants to lead a single unionist party. He should do this sooner than later.Dodds as Finance Minister may well suffice, is it enough to give him the top job in the Exec.
Anyone see a pan-nationalist front SF/SDLP merger.
Durkan as minister of funny jokes ( Folks on the Hill ) ;)Posted by on Mar 04, 2008 @ 06:20 PMAlternatively:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0u3NM8rd1U
Posted by on Mar 04, 2008 @ 06:23 PMWho is wearing the sackcloth now
Posted by on Mar 04, 2008 @ 06:25 PMPerci
Yup 100% definate it is the Assembly group that elects the leader and deputy. No going to the UUC for this crowd!
Jo
I don’t think so. I think that all the votes that the DUP are going to get from the DUP have already come. They do not need to change tact to get more and if strong decisive leadership is there then people will follow that as opposed to Reg Emptey’s weakness. The bigger challenge is stopping votes drifting to Jim Allister so by becoming more liberal and becoming some disgusting UUP hybrid you would be simply alienating more traditional DUP types.
So by arguing for Jeffrey etc you are saying that the DUP vote is secure in it’s new surroundings whenever Dromore clearly tells otherwise.
As for the barb at Nigel Dodds I have to say that I have been in this party a while now and I find him an entirely approachable and decent man who works hard and sticks to his guns. I’d have to say far more so than the prospective new leader. The personality bypass is a cheap dig from someone who should know better than to air disputes in public and open up a debate into personal ridicule.
Pardon me but I will stick to the issues and debate and not go down to the level of insults.
Posted by on Mar 04, 2008 @ 06:26 PM“I think that all the votes that the DUP are going to get from the DUP have already come”
Obviously that is meant to be UUP. BAD KEYBOARD!!
Posted by on Mar 04, 2008 @ 06:28 PMPardon me for repeating how *Insider* in Fortnight described Mr Dodds when a minister last time around.
I would think him entirely decent: however such issues matter not a whit in terms of balancing internal party politics against PR considerations.
I would imagine, to follow the “keep your enemies closer” policy, Gregory might have a chance too. Leader from belfast - deputy from Londonderry (East). Might work.
Posted by on Mar 04, 2008 @ 06:30 PM“however such issues matter not a whit in terms of balancing internal party politics against PR considerations.”
And I entirely agree with you. I have raised my concerns about a UUP-DUP pact above and now I would like your reply.
Also, “keep your enemies closer”?
Far enough but what enemies? Are Dodds and Campbell now Robinsons enemies? I doubt that. In the end I believe it will be a very amicable transition with Robinson as leader and Dodds as DL simply because that is what is exceptable to the majority.
Posted by on Mar 04, 2008 @ 06:36 PM>>I won’t be sorry to see the back of him but I’m not relishing the passing of the baton to the younger generation of DUPers who will, no doubt, try to out Paisley Paisley to reassure the grass roots…<<
OILibhear
It has already begun, the dogs have been unleashed. I just witnessed Gregory Campbell on channel 4, launch a vitriolic attack on murderers and bombers these past 40 years, and how they will no longer get away with it. etc…. I reckon we will have troubled times ahead, still it should plead the bigots on here. Stand by for Dublin/London rule!
On a pedantic note, these murderers and bombers. Would that be the UVF, and isn’t the correct number closer to 42 years?
Regarding Mr Paisley. History will undoubtedly be kind to him now that he effectively turned his back on the dinosaur/emu approach so favoured by Unionists. Pity he couldn’t take many Unionists with him.
Posted by on Mar 04, 2008 @ 06:37 PMAlso please provide a link to *insider* to back this up. In future if that is the case when you are quoting from a different source it is common to spell that out. Have you not been at University? Plagarism in my day was very serious!
Posted by on Mar 04, 2008 @ 06:38 PMSuccession: from Ireland.com:
Under DUP rules, candidates for the leadership of the party will first face a ballot of the DUP’s Assembly Group.
The Assembly Group would then make a recommendation to the party executive, which will have to ratify the choice.
“It is unlikely the Executive would reject the Assembly Group’s choice,” a source said.
Posted by on Mar 04, 2008 @ 06:41 PMI wouldnt describe a party which contains Jeffrey Arlene Peter and various other impressive people as “some disgusting UUP hybrid” I would on the other hand describe Jim Allister as a disgusting unprincipled nasty unelectable anti-democratic little man with all the charm of a squashed slug. The “party” that contains him (if the gang of naysaying loopers including Ivan Foster et al deserve such a grandiose title)would truly consign those unionists voting for it to a cul-de-sac. Having just got out of one of those, I and about another 1,500,000 would rather not go back.
In future, I look forward to seeing Jim on TV as much as Ive seen Bob McC since last March. BTW, theres another decent job in Brussels for the also-ran in the deputy leadership comp. Nigel might be good for that one.
Posted by on Mar 04, 2008 @ 06:43 PMBigger picture.
Maybe in his own back-yard Dodds is more himself.
In Westminster he’s a fright.
Didn’t he say last year, he wanted a generation to pass to test republicans on law and order.
Crazy backward defensive talk.
Unappealing except to DUP/TUV hardliners.Having watched Jeffrey perform on the Republic’s airwavess and on Hearts and Minds last week; he’s very able to reach out to the other side.
Amiable, friendly,self-effacing.
That’s a requirement in this day and age.Posted by on Mar 04, 2008 @ 06:45 PMAnyone have an idea of the amount of religious fundamentalists in the Assembly group? Might help working out Dodds’ odds of a coup.
Posted by on Mar 04, 2008 @ 06:46 PM‘This province does not deserve such a spineless bunch of leeches with multiple mandates it makes NI look like a banana republic.’
Eh ? Northern Ireland stopped being a banana republic about a generation ago . Becoming a self respecting banana republic is now an aspiration for the new generation of DUPers to look forward to . What do call a ‘country’ that is dependent on 70% public sector spending to hold it’s head above water ?Formerly the answer would have been one of the former Eastern European ‘slave’ States of the Russian Communist Empire . Nowadays the answer is Northern Ireland . No wonder SF are so comfortable at Stormont .
Now that that is out of the way it won’t be long before Paddy Power starts shortening the odds on Assembly Collapse prior to the next July 12th Orangeman’s Perpetual Handicap Chase .
Deja vu here we come :(
Posted by on Mar 04, 2008 @ 06:46 PMI blame half a dozen Sluggerites for his downfall.
For the past year they have attacked him through Junior who was forced to resign then quickly followed by Senior.
Well done to everyone!!!!!!Posted by on Mar 04, 2008 @ 06:53 PM“the next July 12th Orangeman’s Perpetual Handicap Chase . “
I like it! :)
Posted by on Mar 04, 2008 @ 06:55 PM**In 60 seconds, Gary Gibbn has said more of insight on Ch4 News than every talking head of Auntie’s did on Newsline. My God but the gap in talent in depressing.
Posted by Karl Rove on Mar 04, 2008 @ 07:04 PM**
Though Newsline’s material wasn’t the obituary tape re-voiced in a hurry.
Posted by on Mar 04, 2008 @ 06:58 PMDavid Gordon, Jim Allistair and Dathai Mckay have a lot to answer for! If ian junior had kept his nose clean none of this may have come to pass, an achilles heel as ever i seen one.
This may be bad for SF in the short term assembly wise but think about it, Paisley dynasty brought to an end, pragmatic leader of unionism put in place, unionism split three ways (which could lead to SF becoming biggest political party in next year’s elections) - not bad for a year’s work.Posted by on Mar 04, 2008 @ 06:59 PMRobinson is far too pragmatic to oversee a collapse of the Assembly. He’s a capricorn FFS ;)
Posted by on Mar 04, 2008 @ 07:02 PM” wouldnt describe a party which contains Jeffrey Arlene Peter and various other impressive people as “some disgusting UUP hybrid”
Nor would I because that is the DUP and I am very happy with how the three above have got on in the last year or so. A hybrid would be the DUP AND the UUP which isn’t what you described above, you just named three members of the DUP. Look Jo just came down a wee bit, I am not attacking who does or who doesn’t become leader or deputy leader but rather it is about the direction that the DUP now needs to take. By saying to the UUP come over we are all the same now I just don’t believe that sends out the best message for those already in the DUP who are not presently content with how things are going. Instead it may turn more of the DUP’s core support, built up through 30 years of UUP let down, to question what really was all that opposition about?
No matter what your opinions are of Jim Allister, which I agree with, there is no mistaking that there is a larg enough section of the unionist vote in NI who are not happy with the DUP, 22% in a Dromore by-election speaks for itself, and to simply carry on down that road, dismissing the TUV is simply repeating Trimble’s mistakes. I do not care mch for the brand of politics that Jim Allister represents because I support what the DUP has being doing, so I have been pragmatic in that sense, but it is also important to realise that the issues that Jim and the TUV represent are getting electoral backing and it would be complete folly to ignore that.
So before you write back thinking I am attacking you, just think about where the DUP is at. I agree that it would be desirable to have a one unionist party system, but I also strongly believe that the DUP is nowhere near that stage yet and if it goes down that road too soon then I fear that the TUV will be the only party in NI to gain.
Perci
I do not agree for the simple reason that the crazy backwards defensive talk that you speak of was being spouted by both Paisley and Robinson at the same time. I do not think that statements like that have been uttered from his mouth since devolution. Again I have no problem with Jeffrey but I have alrady set out my fears of going down that path too soon. I think it far better to stand the DUP ground now, shore it up, deal with the TUV and then tackle the rump of the UUP which by that stage should be easy pickings.
Mark McGregor
Paisley Snr, Paisley Jnr, Dodds, Lord Morrow, McCrea,McCrea, Storey, Poots, Simpson, Moutray, Irwin, Buchannen, Bresland, Campbell are all free p’s. Other “hardliners” i suppose would be McCausland and Wells. But that is all open to interpretation and debate. Personally I don’t think there will even be a leadership,Deputy contest.
Posted by on Mar 04, 2008 @ 07:11 PMLLamedos:
This province does not deserve such a spineless bunch of leeches with multiple mandates it makes NI look like a banana republic.
You mean, this province does not deserve the people that they actually voted in ? I completely agree. Instead, the province clearly deserves to have the election results ignored and appropriate people appointed. We should cancel democratic elections and have an appointed dictator - I nominate myself - with a sham governing committee, to run things and give it the outward appearance of collective government. Best idea posted on Slugger so far.
Posted by on Mar 04, 2008 @ 07:15 PM
