‘The Fall and Demise of the SDLP’ by Donal Lavery

The election of the young Colum Eastwood hasn’t caught the hearts nor amazement of many people (if any) across Ireland. If the election results are anything to go by, he should have resigned just a few months after becoming leader. From the start I regarded the party’s sense of faith in him as a vehicle for change and electoral success as being misplaced and indeed, missing the point: the SDLP cannot change nor be successful, for they have absolutely nothing to offer.

I have the greatest respect for John Hume and his contribution to peace in Ireland. But let’s not forget, many in his party were totally against his role in the talks process, with Seamus Mallon openly and internally attacking him for it. There was even talk of plots to undermine him over the Hume-Adams ordeal, with party grandees fearing the threat a politically mobilised Sinn Fein would be to their hegemonic position in nationalist politics.

Although claiming to be social democratic in nature, in reality it was dominated by middle-class Catholic men – with a noticeable absence of women and feminists in particular. It found itself trying to appeal to a mixture of right-wing nationalist sentiments, conservative catholic social teachings and the labour movement in the North, with mixed efficacy. Such are the contradictions with this lot.

Its past leader, Lord Fitt, helped bring Margaret Thatcher to power in abandoning the Labour Government of James Callaghan at a critical moment. Perhaps its most sickening period was when Austin Currie was actively trying to stand against Bobby Sands, to split the Nationalist vote and delegitimise his cause, such was the malevolence in their ranks.

Given the OBEs which some of them have accepted, I don’t think they know what they are, nationally or ideologically. Some are conservative Catholics, others are pro-Brit capitalists and many are just career-driven individualists who couldn’t care less for the communities which still bother electing them. For a party boasting of its pro-European ethos, it has no prospects of possessing any seats in the EU parliament, not just because of Brexit.

But why do they keep doing so badly in elections? There are three main reasons. 1 – They offer a poor constituency service compared to other parties; after all, they only got elected in such big numbers over the years because Sinn Fein didn’t stand candidates against them and that made them complacent (believing they were a ruling caste or like the Kennedy’s in America); 2 – Their policies are always more diluted and feeble than what other and more larger parties offer; nobody believes that they seriously want Irish unity or are doing anything to work towards it; 3 – There exists a poor standard of candidates and a poorer calibre of leadership therein; none of them stand out as impressive or articulate, and you certainly cannot imagine any of them as Joint First Minister as a result. They stand for little other than inhibiting Sinn Fein where they can.

The SDLP once had some very pertinent and respected representatives, like Paschal O’Hare, Brian Feeney and Joe Hendron, but those are by-gone days. Now it is full of these wannabe Blairites, who will say anything if they sense political office and career opportunities. Abstractly, they are not the champions of the working class or Irish reunification, rather a hindrance on each. With Conal McDevitt gone for dubious reasons, Colum may be leader for some time yet as I doubt any of the rest of these  quintessential Redmondites will put themselves forward for further disasters. It’s time that people dealt them a decisive knock-out blow and confined them to the political dustbin of history, just like their right wing friends the Progressive Democrats in the South. A similar fate awaits.