“The DUP should be led from the centre, not the extremes” – Peter Robinson.
Why do Unionist First Ministers neglect to clarify or act on thoughts like this when they’re actually in office instead of waiting until they’re out of office? Having said that, two months ago Mr. Robinson also wrote a piece for the News Letter essentially telling readers that it was everyone else’s fault that Loyalists were rioting while adding, what was suggested at the time, to be a veiled threat, “Take care”.
That Unionist politicians have utterly failed to reach out to Nationalists either at grass roots level or politically, is making it extremely difficult for anyone to trust them. The DUP’s own electorate don’t trust them so how can anyone else? For Peter Robinson to say, at this late stage that the DUP should be leading from the centre is a not so veiled realisation that some within the DUP have finally smelled that proverbial coffee, and have realised that constantly digging one’s heels in will eventually lead to people losing patience and turning away from the dead weight, whether that be on debate on a united Ireland or indeed Unionist leadership.
Something tells me he has released this statement because he knows Edwin Poots may win and he knows how Edwin operates, which is certainly nowhere near centre ground. I’d love to ask Peter Robinson if the DUP should have been leading from the centre while he was First Minister or only after he left office as Mr. Robinson was not soft and fluffy when it came to dealing with the Irish language, Nationalists and Republicans.
No, our Peter has finally realised, and I’d hazard a guess he’s known for some time, that the only way the DUP is going to come out of the next election alive is to appeal to the centre ground. Something hardcore Unionists will not like. This is a very real strategic decision making time for the DUP, something they haven’t experienced until now having been the predominant Unionist party for decades, effortlessly being re-elected time and again with the sole purpose of keeping the Shinners out of office or at least stopping them doing meaningful politics. Rather than the ‘Never, Never, Never’ politics of the Paisley era…which even Paisley softened his attitude on eventually, the DUP will need to peddle the politics of inclusion. With real politics catching up with them and their role as defenders of the Union in peril, they are now having to change tack and actually attempt an appeal to those who see themselves as Northern Irish and not Unionist, something the two current candidates for DUP leadership are not capable of.
The DUP have alienated pretty much every other facet of Northern Irish society which isn’t white, heterosexual, British or Unionist. Choosing to put up a Trumpian style wall between Britishness and Irishness, between Unionism and Nationalism and resist rights on sexuality expression throws a very damning light on the DUP and Unionism in general. It shows itself as an ageing, tired ideology which is no longer what the North of Ireland needs and appeals to a dangerously small minority. All other parties in the North realised they had to change and become what people wanted. Hell, even Sinn Fein developed policies other than “united Ireland” and showed itself in a friendlier light, open to change and dialogue but keeping a united Ireland firmly in view. I’m not sure the DUP as a party have what it takes to come back from this, because in the end, that Trumpian style wall they built between nationalities and rights will have to be as porous as Trump’s wall because as Bob Dylan once wrote “The times they are a-changin”.
“It’s a rough trade and the further you get up that greasy pole, the more people there are who are wanting to bring you down… if you’re a sensitive flower, this isn’t the role to be taking on.” – Peter Robinson. A warning to his successor when he left the office of First Minister.
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