There was going to be a meeting of the Conservative and Ulster Unionist Joint Committee today to determine a "final" list of candidates, but it hasn’t happened. One of its members is away in Monte Carlo (!) but probably the main reason why nothing has happened is the Lady Sylvia Question.
Apparently the Champagne Socialist member for North Down has been given one last (really, we’re not joking, no more mucking about or we’re sending in Eric Pickles) chance.
All a load of nonsense, of course.
It shouldn’t have been that difficult for a simple closed question to have been put to her, about 6 months ago:
"Will you stand as a Conservative and Unionist candidate?"
Only requiring a simple "yes" or "no".
It’s a pity that this shambles hasn’t been yet sorted out, even more so that the other candidates (by and large) on the UUP side are starting to look (despite my pessism) the sort to give the status-quo a shake up.
Brown could well be appointing the General Election date anytime soon, it’s going to be a torrid election campaign in several cockpit constituencies in Northern Ireland. The day he makes that announcements the Conservatives and Unionists have got to be ready to hit the ground running – that can’t happen if we don’t even know who’s standing on our behalf.
6 comments:
The most sensible thing to do is simply to go with the flow for Sylvia Hermon and reach an agreement with he that she has the 'consent' of the UUP to run in their name.
If not the UUP will not win the seat and if they put someone up against her she may not win either.
The vote would obviously be split and God alone knows who would get in.
Tie up of the UUP and the Tories will provide enough 'fudging' of the candidates lists in the constituencies across the Province that another would not be noticed in either the long or short term.
While Lady Sylvia would obviously be happier under something like the old NILP banner she would not easily 'fit in' with the Broons in the modern day Labour Party so people in North Down would not be voting for a secret socialist.
Come to think of it if she was a secret socialist she would not be welcome in the Labour Party today.
She has little to lose here while the UUP has it all to win, against the odds.
If Sylvia is allowed to opt-out of UCUNF which is not the worstidea as the UUP needs two MPs to be seen as a party, then it would be outrageous if there was no arrangement with the DUP entered into in South Belfast and FST.
The most sensible thing to do is simply to go with the flow for Sylvia Hermon and reach an agreement with he that she has the 'consent' of the UUP to run in their name.
Belfast Greyhound,
Anonymous kind of makes my reply. A Conservative and Unionist candidate was promised for every seat and once you make exceptions then the whole pact thing comes into focus again.
Anonymous,
Problem with N.Irish Unionist politics is that the long-term is regarded as any time beyond tomorrow. Long term having no seats whatsoever this time will be less damaging to the UUP than collapsing the agreement with the Conservatives. There's no point in being the DUP B Team and if pacts are agreed for SB and FST then the party should follow the logic through and amalgamate with the DUP.
Let's be pragmatic here.
The tie up between the UUP and the Tories was an attempt by both sides to steal a march over the DUP in advance of the election.
Cameron thought that tying up with the more 'respectable' of the Unionist groupings in NI would work to his favour and re-establish the Conservative&Unionist Party in the way it was in the past.
The UUP could be valuable and easily maintained allies in the event of something close to a hung parliament.
The fact that they ended up as an almost unpronounceable name and a total lack of direction in Northern Ireland is a sad, but not entirely unexpected, development.
It also means that so far as the Tories are concerned they have ended up with unpredictable allies.
Whatever else occurs the UUP has to maintain links with its base membership on the ground who have probably relationships if not links with the DUP.
Quite simply the relationship with the UUP is not entirely predicable - it is after all the way in Northern Ireland.
Does anyone think that the Tories would have pursued the association in quite the way they did if they had suspected that their new partners would be off having discussions with the DUP under the aegis of the Grand Master of the Orange Order?
The bottom line is nothing in Northern Ireland is 'normal' in the accepted political sense.
Whatever has been given as undertakings for the future have already been changed by events.
Being entirely pragmatic means deciding what needs to be done to secure seats and then doing it.
How may political parties actually stick as close as an Irish mile to their promises and manifesto commitments, after the election is over?
What has to be decided is how to secure the future both for the party and the country but what remains a concern is that the middle-class which fled the political scene during the Troubles has still not managed to re-awaken its interest in the political process in the years of the peace process.
If this was an attempt by Dave and Reg to capture that interest it has fallen at the first hurdle.
Whatever else occurs the UUP has to maintain links with its base membership on the ground who have probably relationships if not links with the DUP.
And if members of the party on the ground in certain constituencies wish to have pacts with the DUP should the UUP go ahead with it? Would that attract back the disaffected middle-class you mentioned? Would it attract a net increase in the total Unionist vote?
If the answer to either of those questions is "no" then it's not in the long term interest for the UUP or Unioinism in general to follow the instincts of those who favour closer links with the DUP.
Unless, of course, the UUP follows the rationale of the pact and "closer working relationship" with the DUP and actually amalgamates with them. And in all honesty, what difference is there between what the likes of McNarry and Kennedy believe and DUP policy on awhole range of cultiral and political issues?
But where then would that leave Unionism in the long term?
The arrangement with the Conservatives hasn't been handled well - right from the start difficulties and challenges have been run away from rather than faced up to, the nonsense with Hermon being the classic case in point. Whta happens with candidate selection is, to an extent, of more importance than the short term results at the General Election. If it's clear during the campaign Sir Reg doesn't have the majority of the party with him on this, then the whole thing should be forgotten about and we can all move on. If the reverse is true than it's time a bit of courage was shown and the inevitable collateral damage taken in order to build a real alternative to both the DUP and Sinn Fein.
It's too late this evening to go much further but you make some good points here O'Neill - most especially when you get to the melt down one at the end.
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