Time to put back together what Sunningdale put asunder
Unnoticed by the press in these parts, the Ulster Unionists have been having a conference, and there is a part of Sir Reg Empey's speech of particular note for friends of the Union in the part of the Kingdom on this side of the water:
"The Ulster Unionist Party has committed itself to a political and policy process which allows Northern Ireland to complete the transition to "normal" politics... As Party Leader I want the Ulster Unionist Party to engage with like-minded allies in Great Britain to promote a pan-UK vision which endorses the over-arching benefits of a United Kingdom as the best framework in which to nurture the benefits available from devolution".
He can only mean the Conservatives, and unless the Ulster Unionists are prepared to do a Trimble and join the Conservatives, it is for the party to make every effort to undo the damage wrought by the still birth of the Sunningdale Agreement and welcome the UUP back into the bosom of the wider Conservative movement. While the UUP is undoubtedly on something of a back foot at present, UUP MPs taking the whip after the next election would aid the electoral arithmetic, and would also be the right thing for all concerned.
"The Ulster Unionist Party has committed itself to a political and policy process which allows Northern Ireland to complete the transition to "normal" politics... As Party Leader I want the Ulster Unionist Party to engage with like-minded allies in Great Britain to promote a pan-UK vision which endorses the over-arching benefits of a United Kingdom as the best framework in which to nurture the benefits available from devolution".
He can only mean the Conservatives, and unless the Ulster Unionists are prepared to do a Trimble and join the Conservatives, it is for the party to make every effort to undo the damage wrought by the still birth of the Sunningdale Agreement and welcome the UUP back into the bosom of the wider Conservative movement. While the UUP is undoubtedly on something of a back foot at present, UUP MPs taking the whip after the next election would aid the electoral arithmetic, and would also be the right thing for all concerned.
Labels: Conservatives, Ulster
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on Monday, October 29, 2007 at 6:32 am.
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There is only one UUP MP, Lady Sylvia Herman (North Down, maj just under 5,000) who, according to word on the ground, will be lucky to hold her seat against the DUP at the next general election. And the UUP has no hope of gaining any seats (not even Belfast South or Fermanagh & South Tyrone.)
Lord Trimble destroyed the UUP, because he believed Bliar's lies.
I remember as a child chanting, 'Maggie, Maggie, Maggie, Out, Out, Out', during an anti Anglo Irish Agreement rally in Belfast in 1985. (not to mention the upper class twits sent as secretaries of state, such as Willy Whitewash, Patrick Mayhew and Peter 'Babbling' Brook.)
Affiliating with the Tories would only cost the UUP more votes. Not that the UUP will have any MPs after the next general election.
Affiliating with the
Lady Hermon is more likely to join NuLabour than us Conservatives.
http://www.sluggerotoole.com/archives/2005/04/blair_babe_the.php
M - Indeed, the UUP is far from a lively Westminster presence at present.
JH - In which case shame on her. Then again, our own dear, dear Labour party refuses to accept membership applications from Ulster....
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