The First Rough Draft 2
On Tuesday of last week I wrote about how the First and Deputy First Ministers were working on a draft letter inviting nominations for the future Justice minister. Last night the final version landed in MLAs pigeonholes, calling for job applications to be handed in by next Friday and talking about identifying a potential minister before Christmas.
This sounds more in tune with Martin McGuinness's timetable rather than Gregory Campbell's talk of years (although the East Londonderry MP has been in touch to clarify that he was using the terms "years" on the Nolan show or "decades" in the Assembly chamber to illustrate how long the business could be without "community confidence". He says that equally it could happen far more quickly if such confidence is achieved.)
On the face of it, the positive tone of the letter is a contrast to the negative rhetoric which has been flying around between the parties in recent days. Jim Allister reckons its the start of a "roll over" by the DUP, but both the DUP and Sinn Fein are playing it down as essentially an administrative step.
So with the DUP and Sinn Fein counting themselves out of the running, who could the nominations be? Ulster Unionist sources say they won't be responding to the letter officially, although it's thought their deputy leader Danny Kennedy might be their choice if there is a vote in the chamber.
The SDLP intend to attend any party leaders' meeting, but insist that whoever they nominate will still be their choice should the matter come to a formal vote. Essentially they don't want to informally anoint a "chosen one". There's been a fair bit of talk about the barrister Alban Maginness in the past, but party sources were staying tight lipped about their choice pending a meeting early next week. One source even suggested to me that the UUP and SDLP might find a joint nominee - something which would set the cat among the pigeons.
Despite this the most likely scenario remains an Alliance justice minister, probably the leader David Ford. But as our Attorney General designate John Larkin might tell whoever gets nominated next week, it's one thing to be identified for a job, another to actually get down to work.
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