After McSweeney: A Fresh Start for Starmer or the Beginning of the End?
A brief examination of the structural and strategic challenges facing Keir Starmer’s premiership following the departure of his chief strategist, Morgan McSweeney.
Downing Street
“The first and deputy first ministers held a private meeting with the prime minister in London..”
Back to political reality, because some recent posts have been less than relevant. No names, no pack drill. ANYhoo… As the BBC reports, following the Northern Ireland Secretary of State’s declaration that, “I think it is possible that we could have a deal next week“, the Northern Ireland First and deputy First Ministers, the DUP’s Peter Robinson and Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness, met with the Prime Minister in Downing Street today on Friday 6 November. The BBC reports that There is …
“Adding more weapons to this volatile situation could destabilise the entire region…”
The Northern Ireland First and deputy First Ministers were in a sunny Downing Street garden yesterday, welcoming that suspect package, and extolling the virtues of demonstrating “peacefully, positively, constructively” [Is that with, or without, a Thompson sub-machine gun? – Ed] Without, probably… ANYhoo, on the same day Sinn Féin released the text of what appears to be a different speech to that delivered in Downing Street by the Mid Ulster MP Northern Ireland deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness – made at …
Cameron’s occasional summitry replaces Blair’s swing door…
When the First and deputy First Minister arrived at 10 Downing Street last month, they had to wait outside for ‘the magic door’ to open. Inadvertent no doubt, but the downgrade it implies chimes with David Cameron’s determination to signal to all parties in Northern Ireland that all messes are their messes and it is they rather than the UK government to clear it up. But as Mark Hennessy notes, there is a sense that much of the senior human …