Is Jeffrey Donaldson a man on the rise? Is the DUP a party getting ready to surge? You’d be forgiven for thinking the answer to both questions is Yes if you read today’s article by the Irish Times’s house-trained unionist, Newton Emerson.
“Jeffrey Donaldson’s party has recovered at the polls” is his breathless first sentence. It’s still five points behind Sinn Féin, but that’s OK because “Sinn Féin [is] stagnant at about 24%.” The IT’s h t u could have said “Sinn Féin remains consistently ahead at 24%”, but that would have meant leaving out the word ‘stagnant’. Which would have been a lost opportunity.
“Sinn Féin’s remaining lead is not what it appears”, according to the htu. “Much of the 11 per cent it [the TUV] is still polling will go back to the DUP…. Polling just a few points behind Sinn Féin is in many ways ideal for the DUP, as it keeps voters motivated to circle the wagons.”
You’ve probably heard of people arguing that black is white or day is night: when have you last heard that being 5% behind Sinn Féin is “in many ways ideal for the DUP”?
Unionism is in crisis. Internecine warfare has engulfed the unionist parties, in the case of the DUP with hand-to-hand combat in full public view.
Nothing, indeed, is certain in politics. But one thing we can feel assured about. The IT’s pet unionist will keep firing his blunderbuss in the general direction of the Shinners between now and May. It’s what he does.
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