Back in the day, one of the things people used to say was that with Ian Paisley, at least you knew where you stood. Except in the end, he proved us all wrong. The man who had led unionists up a hill to wave their gun licences, the man who had summoned a massive crowd of unionists and guldered “Never! Never! Never! Never!” , the man who had ambushed Pope John Paul II at the EU and denounced him as the anti-Christ – this same Ian Paisley formed a political partnership with former IRA commander Martin McGuinness, became his friend, and was the most agreeable of the three unionist First Ministers that McGuinness worked with.
And today’s crop of unionist leaders – do we at least know where we stand with them? Take Nigel Dodds. He’s the (deputy) leader of the DUP, the party which campaigned hard (and some have alleged, unlawfully) for the Leave side of the Brexit referendum. In debates in the House of Commons, he and his companions have urged Theresa May to follow the will of the British people, which was to leave the EU. But lo. The other night, Nigel Dodds was on television explaining to a journalist that of course he would prefer to Remain in the EU, rather than have anything which threatened the Precious Union.
Finally, consider Ian Paisley Jr. When Martin McGuinness died, he acknowledged that the Derryman had been a family friend. What’s more, he lamented that we always had to tag people with ‘republican’ or ‘nationalist’ or ‘unionist’. Effectively, he appeared to be saying that we should place our mutual humanity above such things. I found it a hugely encouraging declaration. This, it seemed, was a de Klerk moment, when political unionism had produced a figure who would match the efforts of Martin McGuinness in the cause of reconciliation.
Let’s skip lightly past Ian Jr’s various holiday jaunts and memory lapses when it came to declaring them. Let’s go straight to a grainy clip that was shown last night of Ian addressing a large meeting, apparently out-doors. Microphone in hand, and with sub-titles to confirm his words, Ian was heard to bellow “Back-stop? Back-stab! NO SURRENDER!” The man who might have been de Klerk had instead morphed into a 1970s version of his father.
Is this tendency to perform political back-somersaults a sign of mental instability, an in-born inability to reach a political position and stay with it? Hardly. The flip was the product of circumstances, not in-built inconstancy.
Ian Paisley turned Never-Never-Never-Never into OK-then because he had nowhere to go. The alternative was effectively joint rule from Dublin, so circumstances squeezed him into doing the unthinkable of power-sharing. Nigel Dodds has expressed a willingness to abandon his Leave position because he is riven with fear that a border poll is on its way and he must respond by calling all hands to man the Precious Union pumps. Isn Paisley Jr has returned to the worst aspects of his father’s early politics by guldering time-seasoned slogans because…because like Nigel, he knows the demographics have changed dramatically, he knows that Brexit has made up the minds of middle-class nationalists and a fair number of unionist farmers and business people, and he can think of no other response than to circle the wagons and yell defiance.
What’s that, Virginia? Why haven’t Sinn Féin spoken out and called on Nigel and Ian and the rest to adopt a more reasonable tone? Because, Virginia, in politics as in war, one should never interrupt one’s enemy when s/he’s making a mistake. In this case, a massive one.
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