91Èȱ¬

Sir Reg Empey didn't have a bad day yesterday - David Cameron's visit helped rouse his party from the bout of depression it will have suffered when mulling over the Belfast Telegraph poll. Then in the evening he didn't do badly in the 91Èȱ¬ NI Leaders' debate, trying, as to run his achilles heel over devolving justice into a strong point.

But the problem of getting together with another party is that you can never legislate for what someone might say out of your earshot. So in today's it's Ken Clarke who comes up with the choice quote, "in the end you can always do a deal with an Ulsterman, but it's not the way to run a modern, sophisticated society."

Is this the way the Tories really think about Northern Ireland, or should voters trust to David Cameron's avowed "passion" for Ulster's place in the Union instead? The only silver lining for UCUNF may be that Mr Clarke's comments have come so late in the day that their opponents won't be able to make as much traction with them as would otherwise be the case.

UPDATE: Here's the Conservative line on the clanger: "Ken Clarke was clearly referring to the DUP who, along with their Scottish and Welsh Nationalist allies, have been campaigning at this election for the economic and political instability of a hung parliament. David Cameron was in Northern Ireland campaigning for Conservative and Unionis candidates to be at the heart of a Conservative and Unionist government. There is only one real unionist party standing at this election - the Conservatives and Unionists".

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