Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Quadruple-jobber Dodds suddenly remembers he's an MP

From Nigel Dodds, speaking about the Conservative/UUP link-up:
This is not some sort of fleeting party political consideration – what we are talking about here is maximising Unionist representation in our national parliament at Westminster.

Up to the twelve months to date, Nigel has maximised "Unionist representation" in our national parliament in grand total of 45% of the votes...
(Has voted in 45% of votes in parliament — well below average amongst MPs. (From Public Whip).

Which is not surprising really, considering that alongside his role as MP for North Belfast he is also:

Deputy Leader of the DUP, member of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Minister of Finance in the Northern Ireland Executive and finally and probably least as far as the order of expenses importance is concerned, a Belfast City Councillor for the Castle Ward

In all honesty, if I were a DUP strategist, I'd be holding my fire at the moment, rather than running round like an hysterical headless chicken; there are bound to be difficulties ahead with the kind of ground-breaking alliance which is being proposed and the "market" being aimed at is, in all likelihood, not going to encroach into DUP territory anyway. Shouting "Who'll protect the prods, if we let the English in?" as Sammy Wilson has done or Nigel stressing himself publicly at the thought of Westminster being Unionist*-free zone when he's hardly ever in the spot himself, do not reflect a well thought-out counter-attack.



*Nigel, again, seems to forget that Unionism exists through the UK. Even if not one DUPe is returned at the next election, Westminster will still be chock-a-bloc with UK Unionists of different varieties.

Postscript:

So much for "maximising Unionist representation" at Westminster; as pointed out in the comments section and by Chekov, not one of the Little Ulstermen turned up for yesterday's Damian Green debate, too busy writing their next press-release no doubt.

6 comments:

Not a Village in Westminster said...

This is why multiple posts must be outlawed. It should not be the case that someone can represent a community in more than one elected body - they should make the decision as to which they can contribute most to, and allow others to represent their constituents with the commitment they deserve in the other bodies.

Anonymous said...

No NI MPs voted in yesterday's vote on the Speaker/Damien Green.
So much for Dodds concern about 'unionist' representation at Westminster.
Apparently the Government Whips calculate that they can be confident that 'unionist' MPs will not turn up on Mondays!!
(Sylvia, Lady Hermon is in mourning until the New Year)

Anonymous said...

Yet, with all his positions of responsibility Dodds is miles ahead of the UUP single-jobbing MP:

“Has voted in 29% of votes in parliament — well below average amongst MPs. (From Public Whip)”

Strange that you didn't mention that in you post.....

Anonymous said...

DUP representatives act like spoilt children. No wonder they're completely alienated on the mainland - they bear more resemblance to Irish republicans than true Brits.

I hope the Tory / Ulster Unionist link-up bears fruit and Ulster takes its spot in national politics again.

O'Neill said...

Yet, with all his positions of responsibility Dodds is miles ahead of the UUP single-jobbing MP:

You could argue that she was also a double-jobber, as she was caring for her terminally ill husband for much of the period in question. The question is whether she should have given up the seat when it looked like that would be the case, my inclination is yes.

However, the DUP have put themselves up for election with the full knowledge that due to their other political responsibilities they could not treat the national parliament with the respect thye profess it deserves- subtle difference there.


Lancs Unionist

they bear more resemblance to Irish republicans than true Brits.

Some wag has suggested the reason they missed Monday's debate was that their meeting with SF, discussing how to combat the UU/Tories, dragged on longer than expected......

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