Getting Goosed By the Hand of History Part II

Okay so the last post was actually supposed to be this post but I wanted to least acknowledge what Malcolm had written respond. Since I last blogged we've seen the announcement of Blair's departure (oddly enough made page sixteen of my local paper the day of his announcement) and the restoration of Stormont.

I'm not sure if they're separate entities or are tied up together. Some would say they're tied together by the fact that Blair wanted to secure his legacy in NI which seems to be true. But as is said the end of one thing is the start of another. It is taken for granted now Brown will succeed Blair and as Pete Baker blogs the contest will be for the Chancellorship with Hain duking out with all other challengers. He'll cover it so much better than me that I hardly care to waste time blogging it (unless of course it tickles my fancy).

Now I'm not one for conspiracy theories or the paranoid type. I don't believe that the moon landing was filmed in a Hollywood studio. There are other things though that I am more open to, a second gunman the grassy knoll for example (though I'm ambivalent on that one) or the idea that Elvis still be alive and living in East Texas (Say "Woodshed"). So I am postulating this while handing my readers a shakerful of salt.

We all know that the UUP are still in free fall. This became especially clear when the spat over Reg's choices for cabinet came out. While the main issue there was fallout between Sir Reg and McFarland it also brought in McGimpsey. McGimpsey having a rather bland carreer (at least in regards to NI) can claim credit with his brother as having challenged the Anglo-Irish Agreement in court (it's hardly red berets but oh well) in the ROI. They failed but at least it gave them "militant" credentials.

So here we go, now McGimpsey has always been seen as close to Trimble and if not for his disasterous run in '05 was considered a serious contender for leadership. So here we are after the first election in which the NI conservatives have sought seats and though they did horribly (see my last post), they have potential. Now miraculously we have David Trimble joining up as a Tory peer. Meanwhile an old friend of David Trimble telling everyone that Brown is shutting off the tap on NI.

If the UUP were even a semi healthy political party I would blow it off. But as the party continues to pull in two seperate directions with Reg happy enough to see Trimble join the Tories but Lady Sylvia Hermon certainly taking a more progressive stand on the issues, I don't think it can last too much longer. So, is McGimpsey's comment just a reasonable acknowledgement that the cash cow is coming to an end or is it something else? Could Trimble's old friend now be trying to sabotage Labor in NI and prime the pump for the NI Conservatives in the next election?

Many people who left the UUP for the DUP did so in the belief that the DUP would remain on the same course as they did for decades. Since they have entered devolution many have been forced to acknowledge the UUP was correct in principle just not in delivery. This, along with the Tories accepting him as a peer raises Lord Trimble's political stock, so that it could be conceivable to see him fighting elections in NI on behalf of the NI conservatives in the future.

Even if this particular incident is nothing this space is the space to watch in regards to NI. Forget reform, the UUP need a clear mission statement on who and what they are before they can start to make a comeback at the polls.