Welcome Break

The UUP seems to be filling the void left by the DUP, as the Unionist critic of the undemocratically enforced coalition in which it might participate, but has little clout. One would rather see the UUP than, say, the TUV fulfilling this very necessary role.

Two UUP MPs voted to save the Callaghan Government (both the fact that they did so and the reason why are important) when both Irish Nationalists abstained. The last integrationist MP to date elected specifically as such was the Labour-minded Robert McCartney, now a full-time campaigner for the grammar schools, another grand Old Labour cause against Thatcher. And the Welfare State, workers’ rights, full employment, a strong Parliament, trade unions, co-operatives, credit unions, mutual guarantee societies, mutual building societies, and nationalised industries, often with the word “British” in their names, were historically successful in creating communities of interest between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, thus safeguarding and strengthening the Union.

Perhaps the UUP needs to be reminded of these and other facts? It certainly needs to keep them in mind. And its new opposition to the shameful carve-up of Northern Ireland between a bizarre fundamentalist sect and a fully armed Marxist guerrilla organisation represents a welcome break with David Cameron, who is as opposed to the Welfare State, workers’ rights, full employment, a strong Parliament, trade unions, co-operatives, credit unions, mutual guarantee societies, mutual building societies, and nationalised industries as he is to grammar schools, to traditional moral and social values, to meaningful Commonwealth ties, or to a realistic foreign policy, among so very many other things. He is, however, fully signed up to that shameful carve-up of Northern Ireland. And he has welcomed with open arms the erstwhile UUP Leader who brought it about, and who is now not merely a Signatory to, but a Trustee of, the Henry Jackson Society.

Oh, yes, a very welcome break indeed.