Traditional unionism

During the Ulster Unionist leadership campaign the term traditional unionist has been derided as something to be avoided as uncouth, rural and not politically correct.

But should we deride the term, after all what are the attributes of a traditional unionist.

Loyal to Queen and country – absolutely and importantly being aware that without playing a more positive and active role in the United Kingdom unionism risks degenerating into a form of Ulster Nationalism.

Resolute – from the formation of the state traditional unionists have stood firm in face of hardship, in war, against terrorism and in difficult economic times.

Compassionate – they have a love of their fellow man and seek to serve their community through voluntary action and endeavour.

Hard working and industrious – from the creation of Northern Ireland - and indeed even before - they have built the factories, mills, farms, and businesses that have kept Northern Ireland working and producing.

Political leaders – they built Northern Ireland up and stood against the terrorists who would tear it down. They recognise that our society is not yet all that it can be. It is traditional unionism that will focus our political effort to drive out poverty and deprivation.

Tom Elliot will take this party forward with loyalty, resolution, compassion, hard work and leadership.

For Ulster Unionism the challenge will be to show that we are the best placed party to take Northern Ireland forward. It will not be enough to simply ask for the electorates support to keep the other parties out, instead we must show how, by electing Ulster Unionists, problems will be solved and for individuals their quality of life will be improved.

We live in a society where there are children who go to bed hungry because they live in poverty.

There are 11 year old children who have started their post primary education without the numeracy and literacy skills to learn in that environment.

There are 16 year olds who left school in June with no qualifications, no route to further and higher education, no training opportunities, no jobs and no hope.

Finding employment for anyone in good times is difficult enough, now it seems an impossible task.

50000 people are on waiting lists for housing.

As heating costs rise there are families who must make the choice between heating and eating.

As we grow older the demands on our health service grow greater.

If we are to deliver for the people of Northern Ireland then these are the issues that we must address.

The choices we have will be difficult and those who take them must be prepared to stand over them.

But be of no doubt the leadership that is required both for Ulster Unionism and for Northern Ireland will require that those decisions have to be taken.

That means becoming a party fit for purpose, a party whose objective is a better life for all, a party of ideas, a party of delivery.

We should not allow ourselves to be ring fenced by the dogmatic approaches of others or distracted by the blue skies of Utopia but we should set ourselves the goal of providing the leadership our country needs across all areas of government not just those we control.

I believe Tom Elliot has the skills our party and our country now need and by supporting him I believe that Ulster Unionism can begin to return to a position of leadership not just by the strength of our words or the attractiveness of our ideas but by the resolute nature of our actions.

Those five pledges

At the launch of his leadership bid today(though to be honest everyone has been aware that he has been campaigning for the job since before the Westminster campaign) Basil McCrea outlined his five pledges to the membership.

The first promises that, should he become leader, McCrea will not take a ministerial portfolio, instead devoting all his energies to rebuilding the UUP.I actually like this one as the task in re-building the party at this stage is probably a full-time job and I certainly would like to see Tom Elliot make the same commitment.

The second vows to make education the first choice ministry for the UUP. Bit of a no brainer this one as every party will want to say the same thing during the election campaign. The challenge will be to outline what we will do with it once we have it. Given that Basil is the education spokesperson a lack of clear direction is of concern and is something that Basil will have to address in the next few weeks.

Third Basil pledges not to form electoral pacts. A very sweeping statement which leaves no room for manoeuvre and given the long term discussions needed to address the issue of voluntary coalitions in the future very short-sighted.

His fourth pledge is a strange one. Every MLA to have a vote of confidence from the entire party every year. To what end? What will be the consequences of losing such a vote? Resignation? How will those from differing parts of the country make an assessment of the value and contribution of an MLA from another constituency? Of course one could always take a cynical view of the proposal. Should Basil win the leadership the threat of a no confidence vote would act as an incentive for MLA's to toe his line. Anyone raising their head above the parapet can be removed. And thus a dynasty was born!

Lastly he pledges to compel elected representatives to attend executive meetings. Of course, given item four above, Basil will hope that none of the MLA's would dare raise their voice against him and having them at the executive will help with control of the party. This of course is strengthened by his decision to remove the entire officer team. It is unclear at this stage if he intends to replace them and if so how. Following the party rule changes the officer team is elected by the members and to change the rules Basil would require a 2/3rds majority of the party membership.

All in all Basil has based much of his campaign on seeking to remove what he calls the "cabal". His five pledges suggest that he wants to replace the "cabal" with a cult.

Sabbatical over

The blogging sabbatical is over and with the best intentions in the world I'll be commenting on issues that take my fancy on a regular basis.

That poll

Questions for Belfast Telegraph re poll results presented prior to 6th May 2010 General Election

What are the Belfast Telegraph Editorial Guidelines in relation to reporting on opinion polls?

When was the poll commissioned if it was commissioned?

What was the tendering/selection process?

Are Inform members of the British Polling Council or a similar professional body?

What are the qualifications of those from Inform who designed and carried out the poll in relation to opinion polling?

What was the editorial process for agreeing the questions to be used?

What was the editorial process to agree the profile of respondents?

Was the polling carried out on a face-to-face basis or by telephone?

In relation to the use of the information collected to provide “a snapshot of voting intentions” what is the sample size used per constituency to predict the results of the poll?

What is the expected margin of error due to sample size and the margin of error due to the length of time between the date the poll was carried out to the release of the results?

What qualifications do the directors of Inform have to make editorial comment on the results of the poll?

What was the editorial decision making process in using information from the poll?

Was the Belfast Telegraph provided with all of the information arising from the poll and then made an editorial decision on what to publish or was the information selectively provided by Inform?

Which political parties received a full breakdown of all the polling data, including that not used by the Belfast Telegraph, before its publication by the paper?

The UK Polling Report is a highly respected website that analysis political opinion polls. It is run by Anthony Wells from You Gov. In its comments of the Inform poll it states the results are “nigh on useless for predicting a winner in all but safe seats”. Would the Belfast Telegraph outline what benefit a “useless” poll is to the democratic process when published 2 days before a general election?