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Election 07

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A stomach turning spectacle

  • Mark Devenport
  • 27 Mar 07, 05:18 PM

Jim Allister is obviously punctual by nature. As we all waited in his office on the Holywood Road he sat behind his desk for what seemed an age (although it was only five minutes) waiting for the appointed time (2pm) before confirming what we had already guessed - that he was leaving the DUP. He said his stomach turned when he saw the pictures of Gerry Adams and Ian Paisley sitting together in the Stormont Dining Room. If the IRA Army Council stays, he insisted, he was out. But there is to be no by-election as he intends to see out his term.

His fellow barrister, the UK Unionist Bob McCartney, may wonder why Mr Allister left it until now to make his stand. If he had jumped ship during the election campaign he could perhaps have made more of an impact on the way in which events have unfolded. When the DUP dropped its previous policy that a mandatory coalition with Sinn Fein was "out of the question" Mr McCartney smelt a rat. By contrast Jim Allister felt there was enough in the DUP's Assembly election manifesto about the need for full delivery by republicans to keep him on board.

Over in the Commons, Peter Robinson expressed regret that colleagues had left the party. He hoped they would think again. The East Belfast MP said he and his colleagues felt no joy in their hearts as they sat down with Sinn Fein yesterday, but felt it was in the wider interest that they did so.

Interestingly Mr Robinson went out of his way to deny suggestions that the DUP had reached a side deal with the 91热爆 Secretary John Reid on delaying devolution, cutting Peter Hain out of the picture. He said Mr Reid was the kind of politician who always stopped to exchange a word in the corridors at Westminster but he hadn't cut across the Northern Ireland Secretary's patch. That follows suggestions that the 91热爆 Secretary told the DUP about a fortnight ago that the precise date for devolution didn't matter provided it came "on Tony's watch".

Not all was sweetness and light - Jeffrey Donaldson accused Sylvia Hermon of nit picking and pettiness when she asked why MLAs were getting paid over the next six weeks.

Waking up the house

  • Brian Taylor
  • 27 Mar 07, 03:35 PM

A decidedly lively session of Scottish Questions in the Commons - the last before the Holyrood elections in May. Those two remarks are, of course, connected.

Habitually, questions to the Secretary of State for Scotland have tended to be sleep-inducing. The domestic stuff that exercises voters - like schools, health and crime - is run by Holyrood. MPs generally have to get round that by challenging the SofS to raise the topic with the First Minister which can sound intrinsically limp.

But today was rather different. Labour ran a sustained operation to challenge the SNP over its plans for Local Income Tax. Not really the function of Scottish Questions but there you go.

One after another, they piled in, gleefully encouraged by the front bench. Alex Salmond attempted a rebuttal, branding the council tax "hated" - but he was interrupted by the Speaker as his question threatened to turn into a speech.

Ironic cheers greeted David Mundell (aka, in some quarters, Fluffy) as he rose in his place as the Shadow Scottish Secretary. A majestic title rather devalued by the fact that he occupies the post by virtue of being the only Tory from a Scottish seat.

MPs were, of course, indulging in a collective chortle over the leaked memo in which Mr Mundell suggested that his Holyrood party colleagues were less than dynamic.

Fluffy fought back, rather well in fact. He noted, acerbically, that at least he knew the names of his Scottish comrades.

A glancing reference to Ms Patricia Hewitt, Health Secretary in England, who had repeatedly called the First Minister "Jack McDonnell" in an interview.

At the time, Mr McConnell was in Westminster stressing the relevance, strength and importance of cross-border Labour links. So that went well.

A passing thought to close. Now that power-sharing in Northern Ireland looks increasingly likely, might we see a revival of the plan to scrap the post of Scottish Secretary - and replace it with a single minister responsible for liaising with the devolved territories?

PS: Never got round to answering the respondent who quizzed me on the issue of neutrality. Neutral? Me? Always have been, am now, always will be. Strictly, strictly neutral. But neutral needn't mean nescient. Still allows me latitude to comment, analytically and logically, upon individual statements from individual parties, perhaps setting them in context, explaining their genesis or spotlighting contradictions.

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