DUP: a stone to trouble the parliamentary stream?

Last week’s optical illusion of a crisis was notable less for its audacity than for the rank amatuerism with which it was carried off; giving rise to rumours of a splitting of interest inside the unitary ranks of Sinn Fein. By contrast, last night’s coup de grace from the DUP allowed themselves to act audaciously and pull off the parliamentary trick of the decade (well, as far as NI is concerned at least). No one in the party is admitting it got the concessions reported, but they are not denying it either. They simply basking in the reflected warmth of a British media determined to see weakness in every action of Gordon, whether it actually exists or not.

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