Quote of the Day

More on Cameron's barnstorming performance and the rapturous reception he received later, but Reg Empey, in this small group of sentences, has managed to encapsulate my political philosophy:

I believe in a pan-United Kingdom unionism. A bond which unites Enniskillen with Edinburgh; Cardiff with Coleraine; Lisburn with London and Stormont with Westminster.

Yes, Northern Ireland is a distinct part of the United Kingdom: but it must never be a stand alone part in which a "Little Ulster" mentality is allowed to diminish the cause of real Unionism.

The Ulster Unionist Party wants to offer the electorate of Northern Ireland something more than a continuation of “us-and-them” politics. Something more than a Balkanisation process which will condemn another generation to elections based on sectarian headcounts and pure self-interest.

But Unionism must appeal to as wide an audience as possible in Northern Ireland. What I want to build with the Conservative Party is a political and electoral vehicle which appeals to a wider, broader, deeper vision for ourselves and for Northern Ireland.

There are solutions to our collective problems which can be embraced collectively. An economic downturn is no respecter of religious or political identities. It hits us all.

I want to make a case for the Union which is based on socio-economic and constitutional arguments rather than just background and upbringing.

I believe in the United Kingdom. My citizenship is a fact of life and fact of birth. I haven’t been bombed, bullied, blackmailed or bamboozled out of my beliefs. And nor has anyone else in this audience.

The slightest of quibbles; I would have started with that last sentence- that is the foundation; Northern Irish and United Kingdom Unionism has indeed survived to this point, let's make sure in the future it's doing a lot more than just "surviving".