UUP – Page 18 – Slugger O'Toole

“[The DUP] had come to terms with what it has done since 2003…”

Mick Fealty on November 30, 2012, 12:38 pm

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So, why not. Let’s have another go at the Catholic Unionist trope that’s been doing the rounds. Gareth Gordon looks at the idea of Unionist Catholics, or unicorns as Alex Kane once put it. Of all the respondents in this piece, Steven McCaffrey of The Detail is the one that has it down pat. Robinson’s tactic is about switching nationalist voters off from voting for a united Ireland. Although according to one senior political source in the party that Slugger …

Frank McCoubrey comes in from the cold…

Mick Fealty on November 13, 2012, 3:05 pm

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And in other council news, Frank McCoubrey – formerly of the UDA aligned UDP – comes into the DUP on Belfast City Council. The UDP disbanded some years ago of course, when someone forgot to re-register the party with the Electoral Commission. His defection, as Squinter calls it is from the UUP whip, which he rather surreptitiously took up at some point before 2009. It’s an interesting ‘acquisition’ for the DUP, which has struggled in the past to garner enough …

UUP: A party with less and less visible means of political support…

Mick Fealty on October 2, 2012, 11:22 am

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Fairly brutal says Basil McCrea. But John McCallister is gone as Deputy leader of the UUP. Why? For making this speech to the Young Unionists on the future of Unionism at the weekend. Nesbitt loyalists grumble that McCallister (Nesbitt’s defeated rival in the recent leadership election) was doing little more than laying out his alternative vision for the party. Odd when you think he’s supposed to be Deputy leader. Picking a fight over Nesbitt’s call for Unionist unity was presumably …

Lord Maginnis resigns from UUP after failing to secure Mike Nesbitt’s resignation as party leader

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on August 28, 2012, 2:42 pm

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UUP gavel

The News Letter’s Sam McBride has neatly [Ed – and quickly] summed up the state of the failing failed relationship between Lord Maginnis and Mike Nesbitt. A set of email exchanges outline Maginnis’ demands for action following his perceived humiliation, and Nesbitt’s offer (early this morning) to hastily restore the whip to prevent Maginnis’ resignation statement this afternoon. One email sent by Lord Maginnis to Mr Nesbitt on 17 August after a meeting between the two men said: I, having …

Welcome to Northern Ireland!

Pete Baker on August 6, 2012, 6:46 pm

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With a little local difficulty exposing something of a north/south divide within his own party, Sinn Féin MLA Phil Flanagan has decided to have an argument about road signs. “Welcome to Northern Ireland” road signs… Apparently, he’s concerned about the cost. The Fermanagh & South Tyrone MLA said: “The erection of these signs has angered many living in border communities who suffer the negative impact of partition on a daily basis and a large proportion of are completely opposed to the unnatural division …

“…almost half of the electorate are choosing not to vote”

Mick Fealty on July 25, 2012, 1:01 pm

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Catching up somewhat from Monday, here’s Alex Kane on OFMdFM’s mini Queen’s speech (erm, presser about what they plan to do from September onwards), and the walkout from the UUP it provoked: So dull and uninteresting was it that the only aspect the media focused on the following day was the withdrawal of the UUP from the cohesion sharing and integration (CSI) committee. Now then, I know what most of you are thinking: goodness gracious, the UUP actually made a …

“they demonstrate clearly their disdain for the democratic process”

Pete Baker on July 19, 2012, 5:06 pm

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The semi-detached polit-bureau are at it again. Whatever ‘it’ is… [Headline-grabbing? – Ed] Possibly… There’s certainly a lack of detail. In the absence of a sitting Northern Ireland Assembly to question them, and with no NI Executive meeting for them to jointly chair until September, the NI First and deputy First Ministers issued a statement last night. [It’s a Queens’ Speech! – Ed] Indeed. From the OFMDFM statement Commenting, Ministers said: “We are pleased to be able to give some detail on …

Sinn Fein’s super discipline “means they shrink at the head, they rot at the head intellectually…”

Mick Fealty on July 9, 2012, 4:45 pm

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This is worth sharing more widely. It’s Henry Patterson talking in a Young Unionist debate about truth recovery. His main point is that Unionists should not back off in talking about the past, or leave the historical narrative in the hands of Sinn Fein. Then he notes the vulnerability of Sinn Fein in these circumstances: You can’t hand these narratives over. One of Sinn Fein’s weakness, although it is seen as its strength by our media class in Northern Ireland, …

As the UUP continues its long gentle journey downwards…

Mick Fealty on June 22, 2012, 2:25 pm

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Who would be in the poor UUP? Alex Kane noted in the Belfast Telegraph on Wednesday, it is the gift to journalists that just keeps on giving, regardless of who is in charge. And the new leader does not have his troubles to seek: The problem is that there is no sign of the better policies, better organisation, or the better communications. Indeed, an opinion poll in the Belfast Telegraph last week put the UUP – at 11% – on …

Ken Maginnis tells Nesbitt that he’s a cross bencher so there isn’t any whip [Updated x 2]..

Mick Fealty on June 18, 2012, 11:51 am

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Who would be a leader of the Ulster Unionist party? Courtesy of John at Nuzhound, this editorial says much that needs saying on both sides of this argument: Ken Maginnis, in his political heyday, was a courageous politician who also fought terrorism as a member of the UDR. But his intemperate language on the issue of gay marriage does him no justice. While he is entitled to be opposed to gay marriages, this newspaper disagrees strongly with the views he …

L’ (middle-aged) enfant terrible of the UUP given his cards by new party captain…

Mick Fealty on May 24, 2012, 11:06 am

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So the Joey Barton of Ulster politics has been shown a permanent Red Card by Captain Nesbitt, and David McNarry makes his way to the dressing room where (to mix my sporting metaphors for those of you who remember Mike Yarwood or Ed Waring) he’ll take an early bath. It’s ironic, that this most ill-disciplined of team players finally got pinged for following the leader’s orders for once. Though it is undoubtedly for the insubordination of going to the media …

Hell hath no fury like a McNarry spurned?

Mick Fealty on April 4, 2012, 1:16 pm

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Hat tip to Paul Adams for this one… It seems that the new leader at the UUP’s assertion that David McNarry will not be let back into the Assembly group, is already bringing dark mutterings from the Saintfield based MLA… And he’s using the Martin Niemöller defence: “I leave it to others to judge Mike’s dramatic rise to the top and for colleagues to think about who may be next.” Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written …

Mike Nesbitt: “A steely determination to get what he wants…”

Mick Fealty on April 3, 2012, 8:40 am

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Great piece from Alex Kane on Eamonn’s site looking at some of the realities of politics of Northern Ireland, against which he tries to measure the new leader of the UUP… First the winning team: The DUP and SF didn’t get to where they are with make-it-up-as-you-go-along ideas. They defined an end goal, put in place a strategy and an agenda and then set out yardsticks by which to measure success. Mike says he has no ‘quick fixes’ or ‘big …

Nesbitt to take ministerial role for the UUP…

Mick Fealty on April 2, 2012, 9:02 am

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So that explains why Danny Kennedy was looking so glum on Saturday… Apparently, according to Diana Rusk in the Irish News, Mike’s taking his job, because ‘it would look good’ to for the leader to be in the Executive next year… Mick FealtyMick 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

Nesbitt’s task is to discover a real purpose for the UUP. But will they let him?

Mick Fealty on March 31, 2012, 7:15 pm

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Even the scale of Mike Nesbitt’s victory surprised some of his supporters. Slugger understands they were already confident of a 60-40 margin, but 81-19 was a resounding victory. He should not have any of the problems of his predecessor. Indeed, the major theme his acceptance speech was that party loyalty is a two way affair. He avoided the cock up of Alasdair McDonnell’s SDLP leadership, though in that regard Tom Elliott’s hasty exit meant there was no big media occasion …

Lacking in policy, distinctiveness, professionalism … and votes

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on March 30, 2012, 11:01 am

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unionist vote share

When former UUP deputy leader and now crossbench peer Lord Kilclooney spoke to the BBC’s Gareth Gordon he said: I think in recent years the Ulster Unionist Party has failed to show what it stands for … First of all, I can’t think of any policies it really has promoted strongly in the last five years or so; secondly it has failed to show a clear distinction from other parties and thirdly (it has failed) to stop rowing within themselves. …

UUP suspend David McNarry for 9 months #mcnarrygate

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on March 29, 2012, 11:54 am

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Tom Eliott wielding scissors at the opening of David McNarry's Saintfield Advice Centre Opening

Earlier this morning when I wrote … Neither has David McNarry gone away. I’ll be very surprised if one Strangford MLA won’t be spending next week sitting in the leader’s office in UUP HQ figuring out how the party can limit the damage the other Strangford MLA could yet still do. … I didn’t expect that David McNarry’s disciplinary action would be completed quite so quickly. UTV, BBC and others report The MLA David McNarry has been suspended from the …

A bold step? Or just more of the same better communicated? An interview with John McCallister and some thoughts on Mike Nesbitt.

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on March 29, 2012, 9:05 am

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I spoke to John McCallister on Monday evening after the close of a Platform for Change event looking at a change “from the politics of identity to the politics of ideas”. I view it very simply that we don’t have many more chances to get this right. We either do the unionist unity route which I’m very opposed to – I think it’s bad for Northern Ireland, bad for unionism, just an unhealthy state in our politics and we would …

McCallister promises to clear out the old guard…

Mick Fealty on March 23, 2012, 9:34 am

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Well, if nothing else, John McCallister knows how to grab a headline in a leadership contest… This time he is promising to axe the UUP’s long term chairman, David Campbell who was an integral and widely perceived to be a powerful part of David Trimble’s kitchen cabinet… “I think some people are actually very unfair about David Campbell. He has served the party for a long time and I think even our party rules would suggest that we would be …

Don’t underestimate McCallister’s capacity to disrupt some of the UUP’s best laid plans…

Mick Fealty on March 22, 2012, 1:47 pm

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Interesting blog piece from Alex Kane over at Eamon’s place… not least for his account for how Danny Kennedy’s (the bookie’s favourite) bid came to a sudden, and crunching end: It was obvious from the outset that Danny Kennedy and Mike Nesbitt were keen on a deal that would embrace thirteen of the fifteen MLAs, all of the peers and the bulk of the party officers. The logic, I presume, was that such a move would scare off the ‘liberals’ …