1. Why, with the exception of Mick Fealty in the Daily Telegraph, has the mainland media ignored this to date? In the present climate surely, "full stand-up in court" evidence that a paramilitary had been helping out the Conservatives' partners would have been dynamite? Never mind the mainland papers, have any of the local mainstream papers or media in Northern Ireland, or over the border covered it?
2. The (largely anonymous) DUP activists have, of course, been pummeling away on it on Slugger O'Toole and on other non-DUP connected sites, but why then is the main DUP website ignoring the story?
Not like them not to put a sanctimonious and hypocritical boot in, so what's the reason for their restraint this time?
Update
Chekov has more.
Update 2, 20th May
The UUP have now issued a further statement on the matter:
Over the past few days a number of newspapers have alleged that a ‘UDA commander’ or ‘UDA Brigadier’ was helping to put up posters for Jim Nicholson MEP in North Belfast.
This is not true.
Two community groups---the Tigers Bay Concerned Residents Association and Community Voice---have been working very closely with the Ulster Unionist Party over the past few years in the area, addressing socio-economic issues. Both groups have also been working closely with the PSNI, local churches and a wide range of other community groups.
The Ulster Unionist Party has also been engaging with the Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG), seeking to persuade Loyalist paramilitaries to decommission and to direct themselves towards democracy and community politics.
Members of the Tigers Bay and Community Voice groups volunteered to put up posters for Jim Nicholson. These groups have no links with the UDA.
No UDA ‘Commander’ or ‘Brigadier’ put up posters for Jim Nicholson.
Jim Nicholson commented:
“The work being done by groups like Community Voice and TBCRA is vitally important if Northern Ireland is ever to move forward. It is important, too, that democratic political parties do everything they can to encourage people in these areas to participate in normal, everyday politics. And that means proving to them that normal, everyday politics works and addresses their concerns.
“The Ulster Unionist Party has been at the forefront of these efforts and we will continue to do everything it can to ensure that paramilitarism (from whatever source) becomes a thing of the past; and that community politics is built around the needs and concerns of ordinary people.
"The Ulster Unionist Party has been unstinting in its view that loyalist organisations must decommission and must cease all criminal activities. Most recently I repeated this call in the aftermath of the IMC Report. I want to see all sections of opinion in Northern Ireland embrace exclusively political and democratic politics. This means leaving behind - fully and permanently - the violence and criminality of the past".
7 comments:
Expenses story rules the roost that plus the ineptitude of Labour to make an issue of it.
Considering the week that UUPCon has had I am surprised that you are worried that they managed to have a spot of luck.
Spoke too soon Irish News has picked it up
http://www.irishnews.com/appnews/540/5860/2009/5/19/617944_381854786137Unionistc.html
Re the first point, it would be (you'd think) in the interest for the local opponents to bring it to the attention of the mainland UK media for the collateral damage it would cause to the Conservative/UUP link-up
It'll be interesting to see the IN full story...and the reaction to it.
I am surprised the Scottish papers haven't picked it up
There might be a very good reason for that.
Which is?
The Scottish tabloids will run with these kind of stories, they've done articles on Andy Goram (remember the black armband at the time of Billy Wright's funeral)) and Johnny Adair's short stay near Ayr. But they've also had their fingers burned as well (one quite funny one was when the Scottish NOTW smeared a group of NI supporters who had actually gone along to support Lennon post the norway scandal, they paid out of court damages and printed up an apology). What they've got here is an allegation with no photograph from an anonymous pastor who has now (Andrew Charles favourite word in this case) reportedly disputed making the claim. Reportedly (again) a DUP representative had apologised to the pastor in question, why I can only speculate. No paper, not even the Scottish equivalent of Sunday World, is going to touch that kind of story on that kind of "evidence
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