Wednesday, March 31, 2010

PeaceWar through Unity

From the DUP "Unity Countdown Clock":
"Only 20 days remain to give unionists what they clearly want- agreed candidates in constituencies where a unionist can re-take a seat from Sinn Fein or the SDLP"
So, given the previous form...we can expect something close to 25 more rabid attacks on the Conservatives and Unionists before we even manage get to the ballot box - you'd almost think it was the DUP's putative "Unity" partners who were the real enemy, rather than the SF and SDLP interlopers in "Unionist" Fermanagh/S Tyrone and S Belfast!

The petition to prove the overwhelming public support for the pact is also stuttering somewhat. In the three weeks since it was launched it has accumulated a grand total of 148 signatures- of that 148, I counted 5 double signatures, 18 DUP elected representatives and members (those are only the ones I recognised), 15 Anonymouses. I'm not convinced that Lord Carson, Gerry Adams, Dawn Purvis and Capt. Picard, who have also signed, are really 100% behind the Unionist Fightback. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt for the Anonymouses, that leaves a grand total of 121 non-affiliated members of the public who have joined the band-wagon.To put that in perspective, my "Yes/No to Unionist Unity" poll which I ran on here for 7 days (result opposite) pulled in nearly 80 votes. I'm an amateur two-bob blogger with a daily readership of 200 if I'm lucky; they are, in terms of elected representatives, presently Northern Ireland's biggest political party with a hyper-active press office and more salaried "assistants" than you can shake a stick at...in other words, 121, not very impressive.

Finally, the "Unity" slogan is obviously this campaign's "Smash Sinn Fein", ie an appeal to the baser instincts of communal solidarity in the hope that everything else inconvenient is quietly swept under the carpet and forgotten about. It didn't work for the Europeans, you would have thought the lesson would have been learnt this time round.

It's a sign of weakness, one which, I suspect, the electorate can smell a mile away..."Yeah, sure we've had one or two problems with expenses, alleged dodgy property deals, double-jobbing, selling P'n'J; yeah, sure there are apparently several other financial and personal scandals pending...but...hey...isn't that exactly the time for a bit of old-time Prod Solidarity? And we, in the DUP, are the party you can trust (sic) to deliver it."

Trust that message?

Update:

What was I saying about the DUP's real enemy?
"The Democratic Unionist Party has decided to stand aside in the North Down constituency at the forthcoming General Election in the interests of unionist unity.

As a party that is leading the campaign to bring about greater unionist co-operation we are not prepared to oppose a sitting Unionist Member of Parliament. It would not be consistent to be advocating greater co-operation within unionism while at the same time oppose a sitting Member of Parliament in North Down who is a unionist"
1. "Unionist Unity" is not required in North Down as a Unionist candidate is guaranteed victory.
2. Lady Hermon was the sitting Unionist MP in 2005, the DUP opposed her in that year's General Election. What's changed (apart from her party affiliation)in the interim?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

How about 347 member facebook group?

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Unionist-Unity/272761170879?ref=mf

More than the Conservative and Unionist page

O'Neill said...

It's still not overwhelming...

Orangeman said...

I could get more than 80 supporters for unionist unity in my Orange district. But again you're missing the point. Your party no longer has any MPs. If that's still the case on 7 May with all the DUP's problems, the game is up for the UUP.

Do a deal over the 2 seats and you are guaranteed something in the next Parliament. Otherwise you are reliant on Mike Nesbitt and whoever Dave Cameron allows to contest South Antrim.

Your party can't afford not to take whatever it can get.

O'Neill said...

"But again you're missing the point."

The point surely being the long-term future of the Union?

You still haven't made a case how that is strengthened by electoral pacts.

Orangeman said...

Electoral pacts are about winning seats here and now and reducing nationalist representation in elected bodies. It's about demoralising nationalists, to persuade them that their day really isn't coming. It's about giving a morale boost to unionists.

You are against all this because you prefer to chase a Garden Centre Prod Chimera in the absence of any credible research or considered strategy.

Most activists, with the possible exception of yourself, join and work for parties to get candidates elected. I don't see why I should need to labour this point but your party is facing a complete wipe-out. You need to start dealing with the DUP or the UUP quite possibly will get no seats. You seem to be in denial and are unable to understand where your party's self-interest even lies. Not too many votes as a "heathen metropolitan" outside Greater Belfast.

O'Neill said...

Electoral pacts are about winning seats here and now and reducing nationalist representation in elected bodies. It's about demoralising nationalists, to persuade them that their day really isn't coming. It's about giving a morale boost to unionists.

We've given up trying to sell the Union then? Irish nationalism is in almost as bad a state as Unionism is, our main advantage is the status quo is still on our side. If your main aim is the demoralising of Irish nationalism as opposed to selling the Union then how demoralised do you think McDonnell will be in S Belfast if he's beaten by a secular pro-UK Unionist as opposed to a communal candidate cobbled together in a grubby pact?
Where's your confidenc

"You are against all this because you prefer to chase a Garden Centre Prod Chimera in the absence of any credible research or considered strategy.

You have a disconcerting habit of putting words in my mouth...once again you're way of the mark. The Union is either something which can exist as a standalone minus the communal trappings or else it's ultimately doomed, in Northern Ireland at least. Why are you reluctant to do a selling job on what (presumably) is the core of your political beliefs? Do you think it can only be sold to the *trad* voter?

"Most activists, with the possible exception of yourself, join and work for parties to get candidates elected."

Curiously enough a DUP member, whose views and advice I greatly value, once told me that political parties are vehicles. You may not appreciate one or two your fellow passengers that much, but as long as it helps to take at least part of the way to your chosen destination, then it's worth hopping abroad for the ride. It'll be excellent news if we get candidates elected, not the end of the world if we don't...the important thing is that a seed's been planted.

You need to start dealing with the DUP or the UUP quite possibly will get no seats.

I don't know if you are talking about me or the UUP generally. Despite the respect I mentioned earlier for certain DUP members, I personally would never, ever support the DUP, even to the extent of putting a number 2 against them in a PR election. If the price of getting a seat is communal pacts, then I don't think it's a price worth paying. Only my opinion.

You seem to be in denial and are unable to understand where your party's self-interest even lies.

The UUP needs to decide if it has a long-term future as an independent party. If it does, it has to exist as separate party with separate ethos to the DUP. If it goes down the road of pacts...anywhere.. then really the next logical step is to amalgamate with the DUP. That will surely make a powerful election machine but I'm not sure how many extra votes it'll accumulate for the Union. I'd make a guess also that it won't be a 100% switchover (back to those seeds I mentioned earlier).

"Not too many votes as a "heathen metropolitan" outside Greater Belfast.

You seem to be in favour of a one-size fits all Unionism- if a heathen metropolitan could beat McDonnell in S Belfast what kind of effect do you think that would have on Unionism generally? Do you not think he/she deserves at least a chance?