Last November saw the agreement between David Cameron and Sir Reg Empey of the Ulster Unionist Party about forming an electoral alliance for Westminster and European elections.
A joint committee has now been appointed to work on the details of the alliance and it will have to make decisions on agreed selection procedures, branding and manifesto commitments.
The membership of the committee comprises four representatives of each party and has been named as follows:
For the Conservative Party
- Owen Paterson MP (Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland)
- Neil Johnston (NI Conservatives Chairman)
- Jeffrey Peel (NI Conservatives Vice Chairman)
- Paul Megarity (Chairman, North Down Conservatives)
For the UUP
- Lord Maginnis of Drumglass
- Danny Kennedy MLA
- David Campbell (UUP Chairman)
- Cllr. Mark Cosgrove (UUP Treasurer)
The committee is expected to make an initial report by the end of this month.
Jonathan Isaby
Not a woman amongst them !
Posted by: Anon | January 07, 2009 at 13:52
Well choosing a name would be a good start!
Posted by: comstock | January 07, 2009 at 14:21
Anon: who gives a damn? On your logic, it's a disgrace that no blacks, Asians, lesbians, gays, bisexuals, trans-sexuals or disabled people are included on the list. It seems that experience and expertise count for nothing in politics these days whereas tokenism counts for a lot.
Posted by: SCN1 | January 07, 2009 at 14:39
Conservative and Unionist Party
Posted by: Cleethorpes Rock | January 07, 2009 at 14:43
A committee of talented individuals who know their stuff.
Good luck to all of them.
Posted by: Neil Wilson | January 07, 2009 at 15:02
Jonathan - do you know who is the Chairman of this committee?
Posted by: anonymous | January 07, 2009 at 15:26
Anon. Of course. What do you expect? Northern Ireland politicans of the right which the UUP are not exactly well known for there lets say progressive views on anything and that includes women!!
Posted by: Jack Stone | January 07, 2009 at 16:04
Draper-Stone can't ell the difference between the UUP and the DUP.
Posted by: Super Blue | January 07, 2009 at 16:21
The Conservatives should re-admit Maria Gatland and place her on the committee.
Posted by: Acer | January 07, 2009 at 16:35
Anon, It is a real pity that few women are involved at the top level of NI politics, and the one that is is pretty useless. I'm assured this committee was appointed on merit.
Jack Stone, don't be ridiculous. A significant proportion of the UUP be from an older generation, but that hardly makes them backwards on important social issues. The party of the past is the DUP. They are filled with people of the past, and play politics of the past - they have been making unprovoked attacks on Jeffrey Peel all over the show.
As a NI Tory, I'm looking forward to the future with this new enterprise and chapter in NI Politics. I wish the committee well.
Posted by: AJJM | January 07, 2009 at 17:30
On the name issue
In Great Britain, "Conservative (and Unionist)"
In Northern Ireland, "Conservative and Ulster Unionist"
Posted by: Liam in Preston | January 07, 2009 at 18:53
OK so now the Welsh, Scots and Irish all have special interest groups and party groupings.
Where's the English party ?
Posted by: Man in a Shed | January 07, 2009 at 18:56
I wonder if we could get Col Tim Collins to stand as a candidate? I gather he's a Conservative and he'd be an inspirational non-sectarian leader within the Northern Ireland Party.
Posted by: Cleethorpes Rock | January 07, 2009 at 19:00
Talk about double speak, we are the Conservative and Unionist party.re-admit Maria Gatland !! Exactly..
Posted by: the bishops wife | January 07, 2009 at 19:29
Unionist and Conservative party ?
Posted by: Gordon Dudgeon | January 07, 2009 at 19:52
Superblue. Oh yes I can. The UUP are right-wing, the DUP are about as far right as you can get before you reach the fascist wing.
Personally I wouldn`t touch any of them with a bargepole.
Posted by: Jack Stone | January 07, 2009 at 19:52
Nor I suspect would they want to touch you Jack. People like David Trimble & Ken Maginnis are great men who trod a pretty moderate path whe it would have been so much better for their careers to become overtly sectarian. We owe them a grat debt and I'm proud to have such people in the Conservative Party.
Posted by: Malcolm Dunn | January 07, 2009 at 20:02
Jack Stone - what a bizarre comment. The UUP have the highest proportion of female MPs in the UK Parliament.
Posted by: Mary Hinge | January 07, 2009 at 20:10
Bearing in mind that the British Conservative party portrays itself as a party of the United Kingdom which believes in same,it is correct and proper that Northern Ireland is recognised by the Conservatives as "Northern Ireland Conservatives".
That only leaves the English to now be recognised as English Conservatives
ie the English Conservative Party
with the British party organisation presiding over a federation of national parties within the UK.
Posted by: Jake | January 07, 2009 at 20:18
Man in a Shed, yes the only people now not represented in the Conservative party is English people.
Posted by: Iain | January 07, 2009 at 20:28
The UUP are dying in Northern Ireland, the DUP will cleanup on the remaining UUP Westminster seat and with a stronger unified vote some of the Sinn Fein seats (the UUP and SDLP will cease to be Westminster Parties) with probably 13 DUP MPs and 5 Sinn Fein.
The most Unionist grouping was the UKUP under Robert McCartney although he was their only MP, the DUP have always been more favourable towards Ulster Seperatism and had elements who were more seperatist than Unionist. There are actually 3 strands of opinion in Ulster - those who favour joining The Irish Republic, those who favour remaining part of the UK and those who want a seperate state who really are Ulster Nationalists in the same way that Plaid Cymru and the SNP favour creating a new nation state.
The UUP are liberal, many of their MPs have opposed Capital Punishment and some have not opposed the permissive society.
Posted by: Yet Another Anon | January 07, 2009 at 21:16
The UUPs are very sensible modern mainstream right people - they wouldn't be reuniting with us otherwise. Their numerical problem is due to Labour "pushing" the DUP and SF, both of whom vote with Labour, similarly marginalising the SDLP.
Posted by: Super Blue | January 07, 2009 at 22:57
No David Trimble or Sylvia Hermon?
Why not call the new party the Federation of Unionists and Conservatives?
Posted by: Proddy | January 07, 2009 at 23:35
"The UUP are dying in Northern Ireland, the DUP will cleanup on the remaining UUP Westminster seat and with a stronger unified vote some of the Sinn Fein seats (the UUP and SDLP will cease to be Westminster Parties) with probably 13 DUP MPs and 5 Sinn Fein."
I disagree with that common misconception to be honest. The DUP will get squeezed at the next election - people who had given up on the UUP will go back (provided the New Force is branded correctly, and not seen as same old, same old), and people who think the DUP shouldn't have gone into Government with Sinn Fein will go to the TUV. This was demonstrated at a recent byelection in Dromore
The DUP know they are on the backfoot - they are running like they are being hunting. And now they are in a corner they are striking out to get out. Practically 2 in 3 of their press releases are to criticise the UUP, the CP, or both...
The DUP are the past, and are filled with people of the past.
Posted by: AJJM | January 08, 2009 at 00:25
"Why not call the new party the Federation of Unionists and Conservatives?"
What do you propose that would be abbreviated down to?
Posted by: AJJM | January 08, 2009 at 00:27
I suppose if the UUP are a dying party they are right bedfellows for the Conservatives as I suspect in a few years when British politics inevitably realigns the Conservative Party will be in the same boat!!
Posted by: Jack Stone | January 08, 2009 at 14:18
Blimey Jack! You can't spell a simple word like (h)as but you can manage a long complicated word like 'realigns'. Have you been taking lessons or you using spellchecker?
Remind me, why are you a Conservative Jack?
Posted by: Malcolm Dunn | January 08, 2009 at 15:26
Malcolm,
Take your last sentence and omit "why" - it makes EVEN more sense ;)
Posted by: Super Blue | January 08, 2009 at 20:29
He claims to be. Surely no self respecting troll could possibly be that thick?
Posted by: Malcolm Dunn | January 08, 2009 at 20:45
Their numerical problem is due to Labour "pushing" the DUP and SF, both of whom vote with Labour, similarly marginalising the SDLP.
The SDLP are affiliated to Labour and mostly vote with Labour, as mostly did the UKUP. Sinn Fein don't takeup their Westminster seats, have no mainland seats and Labour don't run candidates in Ulster elections and anyway would struggle against parties established there just as the Conservatives do, if they did.
Posted by: Yet Another Anon | January 08, 2009 at 23:42
Malcolm,
When I get some free time, I shall put his "policies" together and we can all have some fun!
Posted by: Super Blue | January 09, 2009 at 08:55
Yet Another Anon, I honestly believe that the majority of the country is ready to move on, and with that they will move on from voting DUP and SF. They are parties representing the past, in most viewpoints - the electorate are beginning to realise that. At the moment, alot of people have given up voting. Imho, we can attract them with constructive politics. Ian Paisley famously said, 'No' alot. We can say 'Yes'. Yes, we can all move on to normal politics.
Posted by: AJJM | January 09, 2009 at 11:07