91훑괵 NEWS | Election 07

Inside the Stormont Dining Room

Mark Devenport
26 Mar 07, 05:57 PM

It sounds as if the tone of the conversation at the DUP Sinn Fein meeting was fairly mature. The DUP leader apparently repeated his phrase that this was "a work in, not a love in". But he also stressed that working class Protestants and working class Catholics share similar problems and both parties share a common interest in tackling those problems.

It's believed there was also a common recognition that the new relationship between the DUP and Sinn Fein may face challenges and that the now established lines of communication must be kept open in order to head off any difficulties.

The run up to the meeting sounds as interesting as the actual encounter. When the DUP told Tony Blair about the need for a delay on Friday the PM had to break off the meeting to be informed about the Iranian capture of British sailors. He also talked to President Bush. On Sunday, as previously noted, Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness held proximity talks. They dealt with the date for devolution (Sinn Fein was keen on May 1st), the text of the leaders' statements and the visuals.

At one o'clock this morning officials were working away inside the Stormont Members Dining Room, dragging tables around until they settled on the diamond formation captured on camera.

Now it's down to the preparatory work. Our ministers in waiting may wish to acquaint themselves with their future departments. If so, with the exception of Peter Robinson who knows he is taking Finance, they will have to come to another informal understanding between themselves before formally running the D'Hondt system of appointments on May 8th.

May 8th: The view from the basement

Mark Devenport
26 Mar 07, 03:54 PM

I've just grabbed a moment's peace and quiet in the Stormont basement before busying myself with our teatime programmes. Two storeys above me - in the first floor members dining room, talks between the parties are still continuing. But nothing to compare with this morning's Paisley Adams encounter in the same room.

Concerns about today's deadline being broken have been brushed aside as people come to terms with that startling image of the Sinn Fein President and the DUP leader sitting just feet apart, reading from remarkably similar scripts, telling their supporters that the time has come to build a better future.

The six week delay appears to have been finally agreed during proximity talks which took place inside Stormont Castle yesterday. It's understood officials shuttled back and forth between Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness. The DUP's demand for a delay gave Sinn Fein some bargaining power, but they didn't want to pull the plug on a power sharing executive or to see their voters getting their water bills. Now they get a running in period and another photo opportunity closer to the Irish elections.

So no water bills, and a day of emergency legislation in Westminster tomorrow. Asked about whatever happened to his deadline, Peter Hain proclaimed his insousiance "Do I look embarrassed, do I look disappointed?" It sounded a bit like Catherine Tate's "Am I bovvered?" But in truth the civil servants really think they've got more than they bargained for.

May 8th is our new date. That's the 62nd anniversary of Victory in Europe or VE Day. So is this Victory in Ireland Day or Victory in Ulster Day? I suppose it depends which side of the diamond shaped table in the Stormont Members Dining Room you were sitting on. They say this government is going to be a "battle a day". But maybe just like on VE Day we can say that the war looks nearly over.

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Making themselves 'heard'

Brian Taylor
26 Mar 07, 01:00 PM

As surreal photocalls go, it was up there with the tank.

I sense instantly that I may have to back-pedal a little for new readers. In 2001, the Scottish Conservatives launched their Holyrood election campaign with a poster that failed to stick to its target.

(Said target being a lorry that had to jostle for space on the Mound in Edinburgh with a tank which was, as I recall, part of an army recruitment campaign.)

As Malcolm Rifkind joshed "get your tanks off my lawn", party officials looked on in a mixture of alarm and dull resignation.

Today, David Cameron was in Edinburgh to help the Scots Tories launch their theme for the May 3 contest.

And the photocall? Well, how to put this? Around 70 Tories, mostly youthful, stood behind Dave and his "favourite Scottish auntie" Annabel Goldie, aiming megaphones at the Holyrood building.

If it hadn't been banned, you'd have thought it was a bunch of hunt saboteurs.

But not a sound emerged. Not a whistle, not a wheep. No batteries inside, apparently.

It was entirely visual, you see, not aural. The aim was to depict the Tories theme of "your voice in parliament". It looked more like a 1970s album cover from Pink Floyd. Those MSPs who were there stood, carefully, towards the rear of the crowd.

Still and all, the news conference launch itself was pretty good. Annabel Goldie talked of sticking to real issues - drugs, housing, families. David Cameron said voters wanted to hear "bread and butter" politics, not abstruse debates about the constitution.

Hang on, though. Aren't the Tories meant to be the big defenders of the Union? Take that as read, said Annabel and Dave. But Labour, they suggested, were over-egging the Unionist pudding, frightening the horses with independence when they should be talking about - you guessed it - drugs, housing and families.

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This is 91훑괵 News's election 2007 blog. The political editors from across the UK will report here throughout the Assembly and Parliament elections.