Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Quote of the day

"Some of them have so many elected posts that if they had a medal for each elected post, they'd end up looking like Marshall Bulganin."

Owen Paterson, Shadow Secretary for Northern Ireland, on Tory Radio.



Marshal Bulganin
Member of the Central Committee, Prime Minister of the Russian Republic (RSFSR),Deputy Prime Minister of the Soviet Union, head of the State Bank of the USSR,,Colonel-General, a member of the State Committee of Defense, Deputy Commissar for Defense, Minister for the Armed Forces, Marshal of the Soviet Union, member of the Politburo of the Communist Party, Defense Minister, chairman of Regional Economic Council,Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly,Minister of Finance in ther Northern Irish Executive, Westminster MP for North Belfast, Belfast City Councillor, Deputy Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party and husband of Mrs Dodds

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I accept the point on Unionism needing to tackle the issue of multiple mandates. However, a member of the conservative shadow cabinet is probably not the best messenger for complaining about politicians with more than one job.

Anonymous said...

He looks like Enoch Powell!

O'Neill said...

Paterson's attendance record is not great (65%) but in comparison to the "best" NI MP...

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/owen_paterson/north_shropshire

Re Tory second jobbing - on average it doesn't appear to have affected their attendance record anywhere as near as much as those from NI and I guess that's the key point here.

Aberdonian,
You're right, spookey.

Anonymous said...

Owen (and your good self) is also overlooking the multiple jobbery is not a DUP problem but a Unionist problem. At least two senior UUP members. Sir Reg - Councillor, MLA, Party Leader and Minister for Employment and Learning. Michael, - city councillor, MLA, Minister for health (plus he is lining up for another run at Westminster too).

The holding of a dual council and assembly mandate is relatively common neither did their MPs have any difficulty in seeking multiple mandates in the past.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the Hat Tip.

O'Neill said...

No problem. Ignited's cover it here.
http://redemptionsson.blogspot.com/2009/02/wales-v-ireland-wolfe-tones-are.html