Monday, February 18, 2008
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.
Pete Baker @ 10:20 AM
Will McGuinness now resign, given all the heavy work his associates have bene involved in? Will he f**k!
Posted by on Feb 18, 2008 @ 05:03 PMBigger Picture,
Me spin. surely not?
RegardsPosted by on Feb 18, 2008 @ 05:28 PMJunior 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.
Posted by on Feb 18, 2008 @ 06:47 PMDont 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.Posted by on Feb 18, 2008 @ 06:56 PMAll we need now is for senior to retire.
Posted by on Feb 18, 2008 @ 07:08 PMCrataegus,
Indeed. Not just desirable but logical.
Posted by on Feb 18, 2008 @ 07:11 PMJunior 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.
Posted by on Feb 18, 2008 @ 07:28 PM18,500 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.Posted by on Feb 18, 2008 @ 08:00 PMIan 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.
Posted by on Feb 18, 2008 @ 08:55 PM“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.
Posted by on Feb 18, 2008 @ 09:07 PMMethinks 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.Posted by on Feb 18, 2008 @ 10:18 PMone 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!
Posted by on Feb 18, 2008 @ 11:07 PMDa, 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.
Posted by on Feb 19, 2008 @ 12:56 AMElvis 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”
Posted by on Feb 19, 2008 @ 01:03 AMGlad 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.
Posted by on Feb 19, 2008 @ 05:56 AM
