These are not good times to be a unionist – or more precisely, a DUPer. Queen Elizabeth dies, the DUP stand ready to express their sorrow and burnishing their image with the British public, an image currently so soiled you’d need a bottle of Brasso taken to it. But hey, here’s an opportunity. King Charles is on his way to NEI, an outward unmissable signal that the UK has four corners and NEI is one such corner. The DUP, led by a knight of the realm, stands ready.
And what happens? The king listens while the Speaker of the Assembly, Alex Maskey, delivers a speech that expresses sympathy for the Royal’s loss and praise for the leadership which Queen Elizabeth showed regarding Ireland (unlike some others, the Speaker notes, nudge nudge). Alex Maskey is a Sinn Féin politician.
Then King Charles shakes hands with Michelle O’Neill, who expresses condolences for the loss of his mother, as she squeezes the royal hand between both hers. We don’t commend people half enough during their lives, she agrees with the monarch. Michelle O’Neill is a Sinn Féin politician.
“Are you the biggest party?” the King inquires.
“We are indeed. We are indeed” Michelle O’Neill tells him.
“Don’t be telling Jeffrey that” Alex Maskey chips in.
Smiles all round except for Jeffrey, who does a deep bow to his monarch in the hope that no one will see how thoroughly pissed off he is at all this amiable chit-chat and at the fact that he had to allow Michelle O’Neill to go first.
The last time I saw a Shinner performance like this was when Martin McGuinness turned Ian Paisley from an ogre into a friend. It looks as though Sinn Féin have discovered the Midas touch. But don’t be telling Jeffrey that.
Class!