Michael Shilliday

The Daily Telegraph are reporting today that Jeffrey Donaldson claimed for watching movies in a hotel room “nearly every time” he was in the capital during a period between 2004 and 2005 when he began sharing a flat with Sammy Wilson. Mr Donaldson, 46, a married father of two, used his Commons second home allowances to pay for films in his hotel room nearly every time he travelled from Northern Ireland to the capital on parliamentary business. In total, Mr …

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The BBC are reporting that Peter Robinson has backed John Larkin for Attorney General. So of the “lot of things” that could happen, at least one seems to have gone. I wonder what was second on Ian Jnr’s list. Michael ShillidayI used to write and get paid, now I read and don’t. Former UUP staffer, currently living in London. @mjshilliday

O’Neill has something to say about Belfast media Group’s reporting of the Euro elections. Michael ShillidayI used to write and get paid, now I read and don’t. Former UUP staffer, currently living in London. @mjshilliday

The DUP have taken a royal kicking at the polls. They billed this election as them against Sinn Fein and by extension Unionism against Nationalism. Whilst that may be an argument worth making, they framed it in the dubiously useful context of poll topping. For them winning the election was about coming top of the pile. As it happens they came perilously close to not even topping the unionist poll. As a result, on their own terms, the DUP have …

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Bob has his own take on the UUP/Conservative success in shaping the DUP front bench this week. This attempt to regain primacy was just too brazen. I hear that when the News Letter got this statement they immediately called up a press office. The DUP press office? Nope. They called the UUP Press Office. Why? Because they couldn’t believe it, they thought the statement was a wind up – they wanted to know if someone was havin’ a laugh. This …

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Peter Robinson has today said: The Tory leader David Cameron is today in Ulster. He is a putative Prime Minister and as Northern Ireland’s First Minister I warmly welcome him to this part of the United Kingdom….In particular I note that in advance of his visit it was trailed that if he is successful in becoming Prime Minister he favours ending what is described as double jobbing. This is another area where we share a common view. On 10th March …

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Twitter followers may have noticed that I have been asking the DUP and Cllr Clive McFarland precisely HOW the DUP will merge the Human Rights and Equality Commissions (PDF), but both have been strangely reluctant to answer. Clive thinks it can’t be explained in 140 characters, which is strange because “we can’t because the Assembly can’t amend that part of the Northern Ireland Act and we don’t have any friends in Parliament to do it for us” is precisely 139 …

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The UCU PEB which was broadcast this evening is now on YouTube. In it David Cameron gives Jim Nicholson his personal endorsement. Ignited gives his views. Michael ShillidayI used to write and get paid, now I read and don’t. Former UUP staffer, currently living in London. @mjshilliday

A couple of weeks ago the DUP claimed that they were the party in the best position to reduce the size of government in Northern Ireland. on Saturday Peter Robinson admitted that the public sector has “difficult decisions” to take about it’s size, another indication that they want to cut the public sector. Yet also on Saturday, the DUP find suggestions that the public sector has to be reduced in size over a period of time “disturbing“. Which is it? …

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Slugger regulars may well wonder why this DUP press release was carried, as far as I can tell, only by the Belfast Telegraph. The answer is that the DUP tried to have their cake and eat it last week. Around lunch time on Thursday David McNarry was at the BBC recording a debate with Gregory Campbell for Hearts and Minds. This followed a comment from Danny Kennedy on the sums of money raked in by triple jobbing MPs. In the …

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Conall takes a comparative look at the current Assembly and Executive, compared to their predecrssor. Michael ShillidayI used to write and get paid, now I read and don’t. Former UUP staffer, currently living in London. @mjshilliday

We’ve seen the reaction to one comment in Sir Reg Empey’s opinion piece in today’s newsletter. It is to an extent quite predictable, but perhaps not as reflective as it could have been given the excellent work of Iain Duncan Smith, work which to a large extent defies traditional assumptions about what it is to be on the left or right. The talk of the “nasty party” is gone and the Centre for Social Justice must take some of the …

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David Shiels, who has had a couple of articles on the subject published in the Belfast Telegraph recently, has an interesting piece on ConservativeHome today about the ongoing process of the UUP/Conservative joint committee. Michael ShillidayI used to write and get paid, now I read and don’t. Former UUP staffer, currently living in London. @mjshilliday

There is an interesting reference to our Chief Constable in this weeks Spectator, one that he probably wont welcome: Unlike his predecessor, Sir Ian Blair, and his chief rival for the job, Sir Hugh Orde….Stephenson is not a politician in uniform. Perhaps Sir Hugh has bigger fans then. Michael ShillidayI used to write and get paid, now I read and don’t. Former UUP staffer, currently living in London. @mjshilliday

This morning, Alan thought he might know who the new Moderator of the General Assembly might be. And he was right. Michael ShillidayI used to write and get paid, now I read and don’t. Former UUP staffer, currently living in London. @mjshilliday

Johnny Guitar has some choice words for éirígí over their anti Israel activities. Michael ShillidayI used to write and get paid, now I read and don’t. Former UUP staffer, currently living in London. @mjshilliday

The TUV have launched their party website. This does at least demonstrate that they did not see Jim Allister’s personal website as the party website on a long term basis, which is a sign of a desire to develop a coherent party structure. However the TUV’s major problem is that Jim Allister is the only coherent spokesman they have, and if, as seems altogether likely, he loses his seat next year, the potency of the Jim Allister show will be …

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When one thrid of the last 20 DUP press releases attack the UUP. Michael ShillidayI used to write and get paid, now I read and don’t. Former UUP staffer, currently living in London. @mjshilliday

David Cameron’s published script, as released, says “It’s in my own selfish interest”. However as I recorded at the time, he actually said, “its in my selfish, strategic interest”. There was therefore clearly a lot of thought put into this particular section, and someone, somewhere, decided in the end that the full phrase needed to be used. They made the right choice.Cameron had two bases to cover yesterday. That had become very clear in consultations with party members over the …

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Seems like he’s on his way down, the already full room has nearly exhausted the standing room. Cameron – link with UUP is in my selfish, strategic interest. I will never be a neutral when it comes to support for the Union Chekov has some initial thoughts. The text of the speech is now available.Jim Nicholson winding up now. I think he’s popular Points out that today is the third anniversary of his election as Conservative leader. Can’t th think …

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