The current issue of Magill – numbered Issue 2 2008 for some reason – is now in the shops and has a Northern focus. Eamon Delaney provides a cool and concise editorial; Sean Sexton looks unfavourably at Jonathan Powell’s new book, Great Hatred, Little Room, and its revelations regarding the Provos and the British government and John Coulter has a very interesting article on the future of unionism, called “Three Steps to Unionist Heaven”.
Coulter’s article was written before Peter Robinson became the only choice for DUP leader. Coulter writes that unionism “must begin a healing process within itself; otherwise a politically united Ireland will come about by default”. He suggests a three-part plan is needed.
Step One: “eradicate all traces of the Paisley family and dynasty from unionism … For this, it will require a dream team representing the DUP’s two wings – the modernisers and the fundamentalists.” For Coulter that means Robinson as leader and Nigel Dodds as deputy.
Step Two: “revamp the 1970s Unionist Coalition that represented the DUP, UUP and the Vanguard Unionists and took 11 of the dozen Westminster seats in the 1974 general election. With the growth in the Northern Catholic vote since the start of the new millennium, there is simply not enough electoral room for three main unionist parties.”
Step Three: “the merger of the two parties in a post-Robinson and post-Empey era under the leadership of Jeffrey Donaldson … With Robinson pushing 60, all Donaldson has to do is let his leader-in-waiting have his time in the limelight as First Minister and wait for the husband and wife team to leave the political arena.”
Coulter also writes that “the goal of formal unionist unity becomes even more a reality if republicanism sheds the current Sinn Féin leadership. Out must go Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, both once closely associated with the IRA. In must come a Sinn Féin leadership that has not served any apprenticeship in the Provos. In short, no more ex-prisoner candidates … Failing this Damascene conversion by Sinn Féin, unionists wanting political unity must pray a prospective Fianna Fáil/SDLP merger becomes a reality, and not merely the trendy chat of middle-class Catholicism’s coffee mornings.”
Saturday, April 12, 2008
‘Three Steps to unionist heaven’
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Would not perhaps a closer allegiance between the two unionist parties better serve their purposes rather than having one unified party? That way they could still have an element of differentiation and therefore appeal to slightly different elements of the electorate, thus maximising the unionist vote. Meanwhile, they could operate closely to ensure unity of purpose in government. If one looks at the south, following the Labour/ DL merger, the combined party's strength basicially settled at the level that Labour had previously been at on its own, which would suggest that mergers don't necessarily lead to electoral benefits.
I would very much doubt that Jeffery would ever be accptable to UU people after his defection
There's no way that the grand coalition of the 70's can come about again, at least not until it is well clear that a nationalist party could win most seats in Stormont, which right now still seems dubious. The parties are constantly attacking each other, and the TUV probably wouldn't sit well jumping back into bed, to use that phrase, with their Unionist enemies.
Post a Comment