DUP Conference

#DUP25 conference fires the opening shots on their next campaign

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The DUP went back to the La Mon Hotel for the first time in nearly a decade. Several hundred delegates gathered as the party marks 18 months back in government and is gearing up for the 2027 Assembly  and Local Government Elections. The party ministers spent time firing shots at Sinn Fein and the TUV, with Upper Bann MLA, Jonathan Buckley played the role of delivering the message to the base with a speech focusing on immigration. Leaders speech bu …

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Campbell: No apology on remarks but “If they wanted me to repeat it, they went the right way about it”

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He’s been in the headlines recently over his comments about the Irish Language during question time in the Assembly and normally it is Sammy Wilson who grabs the headlines at a DUP conference for an interesting speech, but this year Gregory Campbell unbowed continued with his remarks and brought some visual aids to demonstrate his point. Following his comments I was keen to catch up with the DUP MP to just find out, why he made his remarks? Why he …

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Peter Robinson on Westminster and defending Ashers Bakery from the “Big Brigade” of the Equality Commission #DUP14

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As things wrapped up in the afternoon at the DUP Conference, I managed to get some time with the First Minister, Peter Robinson to discuss the conference, the upcoming election and the DUP’s support for Asher’s Bakery. I began by asking him how he felt the mood of his conference was this year? Not surprisingly, Robinson told me that the party was in “good spirits” this year as they had a large overflow of delegates in the main hall, as …

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Robinson setting out the parameters for his ‘pluralist’ legacy in 2021?

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So one of the big set pieces of the weekend was Peter Robinson’s claim was that a majority of Catholics now (ie, right now) would prefer to stay with Britain than take their chances in what (as Ruarai points out in the comments zone) remains a hugely undefined united Ireland. On the face of it he’s pushing further than Trimble’s famously self defeating claim that 35% of NI Catholics where unionists. Self defeating because such weak attachment did not and …

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DUP conference: dogmas, Mexican bandits, turkeys, opposition, outreach #dup12

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The DUP is undeniably changing. Ten years ago who would have thought that purveyors of the trade organisation representing sellers of the devil’s buttermilk – Pubs of Ulster – would be sponsoring a drinks reception at the DUP conference? Who would have predicted that a Irish government minister would be welcomed to the DUP conference and that delegates would speak highly of his understanding of the minutiae of CAP reform? Could you imagine a Conservative Secretary of State being willing …

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