I’ve just switched off the Nolan Show on B(ritish)BC Raidio Uladh/Radio Ulster. Not in disgust at what he or his contributors are saying but because life is short. As it happens, the discussion did raise some interesting points.
Like who will win tomorrow’s vote for leadership of the DUP? The smart money appears to be on Jeffrey Donaldson. Former DUP spad Tim Cairns (I think) framed unionism as the UUP led by Doug Beattie on the left, Jim Allister on the right, and Jeffrey Donaldson in the middle. Clever that, and not totally untrue. The secret and not-so-secret wish of some nationalists that Edwin Poots would become leader, on the grounds that he was more far right and would damage the DUP rather than rescue it, is understandable. But barring a lurch to the right that’d be in danger of flattening Jim Allister, Jeffrey Donaldson is going to win when they vote on it tomorrow at 5.00 pm.
I say ‘they’, but the vote is confined to DUP MLAs and MPs. I’m not sure why a democratic (the clue is in the name) party like the DUP would choose to exclude party members. Maybe because they aren’t that keen on democracy.
But Jeffrey seems on his way to the top, since recently he made it clear that he’d be agitating for the removal, not the amendment, of the Protocol. In other words, he’s shifted to a hard-line position, not allowing Poots to pose as champion of anti-Protocolers.
That declaration by Jeffrey will exact a high price. It may get him elected, but almost immediately it will show him as a man who was duped by PM Johnson and will now, as DUP leader, be ignored.
What a pain, eh Jeffrey? You finally climb to the top of the greasy pole, only to realise that you’re as useful as a one-legged eunuch in a harem.
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