Back again

Cicero's voice is back, not really by design but a consequence of the blog which replaced it having disappeared into the internet ether.

The end or the beginning?

As the result of the selection process for local government elections next year I have been de-selected as the UUP candidate for Antrim North West. Here is the press statement issued today.

“It has been an honour and a pleasure to serve the Ulster Unionist Party and the constituents of Antrim North West for the past 10 years. I entered politics with the knowledge that it would allow me to work to improve the society we live in and the quality of life that people enjoy. Holding elected office is a privilege not a right and provides only one mechanism by which we can strive to help others. While elected office is no longer an option for me in South Antrim I look forward to finding new ways to achieve the same goals.

I would like to thank all those who have supported me over the years and of course I shall continue to work in the best interests of the people of Antrim North West and the Borough as a whole until the end of my term in office.

I congratulate my successor Roderick Swann and wish him all the best in next years council elections.”

Will the UN turn towards wee Ulster again?

In 2003 during a visit to the US I was invited to the UN Headquarters to meet with one of their representatives in relation to my work in North Belfast. The UN representative specialised in addressing the issue of child soldiers and at that time the use of children by paramilitiaries in Northern Ireland was an area of major concern. The solution was relatively simple, all terrorists but loyalist paramilitaries in particular would have to cease the recruitment and use of children or find themselves before the war crimes tribunal in the Hague. The UN wanted to be sure that the right people got the message and the relevant contacts were made so that the UN could pass the message directly to those who were most likely to find themselves on a plane to the Netherlands.

Which brings us to 2010 and East Londonderry MP Gregory Campbell's Commons motion on Child Soldiering.

EDM 856
CHILD SOLDIERING - GREGORY CAMPBELL
That this House notes the ongoing international abuse scandal whereby child soldiers are used in the most horrific and brutal causes; commends the work being done by many charitable bodies, churches and others, including a recent campaign by students in Coleraine, Northern Ireland, to expose the continuing outrage of using thousands of young children as pawns in disputes which continue in many developing countries; and calls on the Government to exert pressure in every available international forum to ensure these practices are stopped as soon as possible.

We all know that Early Day Motions have limited usefulness in general, Gregory himself has been on occasions frivolous in their use, but on this occasion Gregory can take the issue a step further.

Given the devolution of policing and justice powers to the Assembly will he table a motion calling on the UN to review the use of children by paramilitaries in Northern Ireland.

Unionist Unity (1)

Shortly after the General Election I penned a few thoughts on the cemtral theme of the local contest. Since the issue has come to the fore again in the UUP leadership race I thought I would share my views of a few months ago before posting my current thoughts.

Unionist unity was at the forefront of a number of campaigns during this election and will no doubt be raised as an issue in advance of the forthcoming assembly elections. This throws up a number of questions, what is meant by unity and, in the context of what has been the attitude of the parties in this election, what now is the definition of UK unionism and what is our role within it?
From a position at Hatfield of seeking a form of pan-unionism involving the Conservatives and Ulster Unionists the DUP moved quickly to undermine the Conservative and Unionist project once it became clear they could not meet the terms of joining such a movement. Their focus on unity as defined by William McCrea is that there should only be one unionist party. Whether that should be the DUP on its own or the creation of a new unionist political party both options will require the final demise of Ulster Unionism
Alternatively a desire for unity based simply on short term political expediency and the delivery of a number of seats whether at Westminster or Stormont can only truly deliver in rare circumstances. While the agreement of all three parties to step aside in Fermanagh and South Tyrone was rightly based on the desire to end the misrepresentation of the constituency by Sinn Fein, the DUP sought to use that agreement to undermine the Conservative and Unionist project in other areas. Their desire to have candidates from the Conservatives and Unionists step aside in favour of unaligned independents in other areas such as South Belfast was motivated not by the interests of the electorate but by their own ruthless need to prevent any candidates raising their profile who would later pose a threat to DUP elected members. Any proposal in future which has at its heart the exclusion of the best new talent that unionism can offer cannot be considered.
The choice for Ulster Unionism in the next few days seems clear, to forsake the ideology of pan-UK unionism and greater involvement in UK politics and seek short term political representation based on subservience to a party that has demonstrated that its new attitude to the union is based on the two words most feared by true unionists namely “ourselves alone” or continue the path already chosen in the interests of the union. The greatest threat to the union is not that Nationalism will drag us kicking and screaming into a united Ireland but that we by our carelessness and petulance turn our back on the thing we hold most dear.
Of course things can always change, after all the DUP have over the past number of years specialised in ruthlessly attacking the UUP for any policy initiative we have taken only to immediately adopt such a position once they have gained electoral advantage. This time they have been quick off the mark even for them. The DUP having spent the past 6 weeks attacking the very idea of pan-UK unionism as weakening Northern Ireland’s position and themselves becoming the embodiment of Ulster Nationalism have taken yet another new position. Jeffrey Donaldson speaking only two days after the election has said in Liverpool,

“As we struggle to recover from the impact of recession, we are stronger together than we would ever be apart. Yet despite the strength that comes from unity, there are nationalist elements that seek to dismember the Kingdom and destroy the Union. Surely the time has come for unionists to come together to mount a strong defence of the Union. We must not allow nationalism or indeed extremism to hold the stage on this debate.
The case for the Union is a powerful one but it is often unspoken. I advocate the creation of a UK - wide movement that will draw together political and civic unionism in a campaign to promote the maintenance of the Union and to defend the integrity of the United Kingdom.”

It is clear that it is not the policy that the DUP have issues with rather it is that Ulster Unionists moved the debate forward without them. Therein lies the issue for Ulster Unionism, can it ever totally trust a party who will at every opportunity seek to undermine and remove it from the political map at whatever cost to the union and unionism? Also can pan-UK unionism ever be promoted without the support of the one party capable of delivering it?