According to Malachi O’Doherty, Tony Blair’s tactic of buying more time by postponing the elections has not worked for either the Unionists, who have simply papered over their cracks, or the IRA who are consequently no nearer their bottom line than they were six months ago.
There is no changed context for the postponed election. The political circumstances are the same as they were. The strategy of drawing Jeffrey into a challenge and wrong-footing him right out of the party has failed – if there was one and it wasn’t just his own ineptitude that led him to do as he did. Still, Jeffrey is in the party and will have the opportunity restored to him of challenging Trimble from the floor of the Assembly if the election goes ahead.
The strategy of buying the IRA more time will have failed, if they don’t give any more than they offered then – a set of ambiguous phrases that both the IRA support base and Ulster Unionists could read optimistically if they chose.
Mick 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. Twitter: @MickFealty
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