At first feisty, but an ultimately uninspiring debate between five leaders who threw punches but all walked out of the ring with bruises. Relatively little discussion about policies or achievements. While parties won’t have lost votes, tonight’s debate will have done little to boost turnout.
David McNarry’s latest foray into controversy has been to float – and then retract the suggestion that foreign workers (specifically a hypothetical Polish surgeon) be deported for minor crimes such as parking tickets. Although this may play well with a few it seems something of a gaffe: maybe UKIP’s leadership will not be too sorry to lose their sole NI MLA when McNarry stands down at the Assembly elections (to be fair retiring at 67 seems pretty reasonable). It also …
Eight speakers deliver their pitch for the leaving or remaining in the European Union in QUB Student’s Union – Leslie Budd (OU), Hugo MacNeill (British/Irish Assoc), David Phinnemore (QUB), David McNarry (UKIP), Duncan Morrow (APNI), Declan Kearney (SF), Christopher Stalford (DUP) & Claire Hanna (SDLP)
UKIP NI: David McNarry challenged the DUP & UUP to come off the fence one way or the other and state their position on the EU referendum. He also called for a victims charter with a proper definition of a victim and criticised the DUP & Sinn Fein – querying what sort of devolved government hands powers back to the Tories in Westminster.
David McNarry and poetry. Two things I never thought I’d put in one sentence. He pulls it off quite well, and she was clearly charmed… [Yes, but did it work? – Ed] Ah be quiet, and just live in the moment for once… Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. …
So the Joey Barton of Ulster politics has been shown a permanent Red Card by Captain Nesbitt, and David McNarry makes his way to the dressing room where (to mix my sporting metaphors for those of you who remember Mike Yarwood or Ed Waring) he’ll take an early bath. It’s ironic, that this most ill-disciplined of team players finally got pinged for following the leader’s orders for once. Though it is undoubtedly for the insubordination of going to the media …
Hat tip to Paul Adams for this one… It seems that the new leader at the UUP’s assertion that David McNarry will not be let back into the Assembly group, is already bringing dark mutterings from the Saintfield based MLA… And he’s using the Martin Niemöller defence: “I leave it to others to judge Mike’s dramatic rise to the top and for colleagues to think about who may be next.” Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written …
Earlier this morning when I wrote … Neither has David McNarry gone away. I’ll be very surprised if one Strangford MLA won’t be spending next week sitting in the leader’s office in UUP HQ figuring out how the party can limit the damage the other Strangford MLA could yet still do. … I didn’t expect that David McNarry’s disciplinary action would be completed quite so quickly. UTV, BBC and others report The MLA David McNarry has been suspended from the …
The king of the UUP-scourging quote is back. David McNarry, the man who gave us the line “the party will close ranks and anybody who wants to be a hypocrite will get their photograph taken” has given up his early Lenten abstinence from the media. The UUP member and independent MLA at the centre of the party’s most recent fracas has emerged and spoken once again to the News Letter, despite the ongoing disciplinary process and the instruction to all …
There isn’t really an upside to the UUP’s problems at the moment. Although they were never what you might even remotely call political friends, Mr McNarry’s exit bears a lot of resemblance to the early departure of Trevor Ringland. Already the consequences are closing in. So early in his career as leader to have lost allies or potential allies from both the right and the left, is a little more than careless. His problem is – not dissimilar to the …
It’s the story that keeps on giving. And that looks to be David McNarry’s intention. Now free of having to notify the UUP press office about media interviews and statements – something that Tom Elliott has adhered to as Party Leader – David McNarry is everywhere. This morning’s News Letter. The Belfast Telegraph. Though nothing fully authored by him in the Irish News. [Ed: Maybe he’s saving that as a treat for Thursday?] In recent days he has appeared on …
The News Letter and UTV’s Ken Reid have been tweeting tonight what looks like being the latest episode in the UUP-DUP united unionist soap opera. David McNarry has resigned from the UUP Assembly group after Tom Elliott withdrew him as vice-chair of education committee, though stopped short of taking away the party whip. The BBC add: Mr McNarry said he spoke to the party leader on Friday evening by telephone. And Mr Elliott told him he was being disciplined as …
Interesting. Ken Reid reports that even though technically speaking David McNarry was right in suggesting Basil McCrea and John McCallister were unforgiveably breaking ranks on a party line (in suggesting the matter of Martin McGuinness becoming First Minister was not important to them), he has apologised for his outburst on Stephen Nolan’s show last week… Mr McNarry apologised for his contribution to last week’s First Minister’s row and said the party was now united. It might have helped if Basil …
