The last time a major Unionist party was lead by anyone from west of Portadown it was Harry West in in 1970’s. That was not a happy period of the UUP’s history. The sense of ‘otherness’ that exists amongst border Unionists is well known, researched and documented. It is not a fictional notion dreamed up to further an argument, it is fair to say they are a different sort of Unionist. It is for that reason that the queston “does …
With the Ulster Unionist Party, once a monopolist mechanism for the exercise of unionist political power, now out of power, it needs to carve itself an ideological space in Northern Irish politics to survive. The best hope both for the party and the province is becoming an advocate for mainland politics.
The UUP have just issued a Press Release on the status of their relationship with the Conservative Party. I will reproduce it below: UUP statement on discussions with the Conservative Party After a meeting yesterday, it has been agreed that the Conservative Party and the Ulster Unionist Party will continue to engage in a serious and constructive dialogue about an on-going political and electoral relationship between the two parties as we look ahead to the next European and General Elections. …
In a remarkable development Gordon Brown has moved to leave the door wide open to doing a deal with the DUP in the eventuality of his being close to being able to form a government. The DUP has revealed the contents of a letter approved by Mr Brown and received by the leader Peter Robinson on Tuesday stating that a Labour government would honour all financial commitments promised in the recent Justice package and even more significantly has guaranteed no …
