I’m a bit late coming to this (pace Allison in the Irish News), but given the poor ratio of speculation to fact about the Con-DUP deal, this is decent guide to the glacial pace of negotiations in Stormont (and London) from former DUP spad, Richard Bullick, who has now been released into the wild:
1/15 With less than two weeks to the latest Stormont talks deadline it might be useful to reflect on the lessons from negotiations NI style
— Richard Bullick (@RichardBullick1) June 18, 2017
2/15 at the request of the parties the names have been omitted, out of respect for the truth everything else has been told as it occurred!
— Richard Bullick (@RichardBullick1) June 18, 2017
3/15 So here’s just a few tactics I’ve seen by various players over the last 15 years … (you know who you are)
— Richard Bullick (@RichardBullick1) June 18, 2017
4/15 Agree the importance of confidentiality of negotiations while adding Brian Rowan to cc list for all sensitive documents
— Richard Bullick (@RichardBullick1) June 18, 2017
5/15 Wrong-foot opponents by pretending to act irrationally. Double down on strategy by actually acting irrationally
— Richard Bullick (@RichardBullick1) June 18, 2017
6/16 Present financial asks in appropriate format – handwritten, on jotter page – all numbers divisible by 1 billion
— Richard Bullick (@RichardBullick1) June 18, 2017
7/15 claim there is no more money then present ‘generous’ financial package with little or no actual new money – hope no one notices
— Richard Bullick (@RichardBullick1) June 18, 2017
8/15 ensure Ministers still rigorously Ministers stick to the Government policy (of the previous administration)
— Richard Bullick (@RichardBullick1) June 18, 2017
9/15 Set deadline, break deadline, claim next deadline really is deadline, repeat as often as necessary
— Richard Bullick (@RichardBullick1) June 18, 2017
10/15 Enter negotiations with wholly unrealistic demands until negotiations reach climax then increase demands
— Richard Bullick (@RichardBullick1) June 18, 2017
11/15 Add to demands at regular intervals by adopting other parties demands and passing them off as your own
— Richard Bullick (@RichardBullick1) June 18, 2017
12/15 Keep other parties negotiators busy while conducting real negotiations at another venue altogether
— Richard Bullick (@RichardBullick1) June 18, 2017
13/15 Create a sense of involvement in the process by appearing on the media more often than in talks
— Richard Bullick (@RichardBullick1) June 18, 2017
14/15 When deal finally done agree that things will be different in the future and things really have changed
— Richard Bullick (@RichardBullick1) June 18, 2017
15/15 Deny that final agreement could have been done in a few hours and ignore the fact that long standing red lines have been breached
— Richard Bullick (@RichardBullick1) June 18, 2017
Punch and Judy would not be in it.
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