U.S Congress and Cameron

The all party Congressional leaders of the Irish American community have, it is reported, written to David Cameron expressing their hope that he will exercise all possible influence over his new dodgy friends in the Ulster Unionist Party to ensure that they vote for the transfer of police powers at Stormont tomorrow. The U.S., which is very disturbed by this electoral pact of Cameron’s, believes that it is imperative that the vote to proceed is unanimous to send an unambiguous message to extremists. They note the UUP has not yet made up its mind.

I have before said I cannot believe that the Tory high command can have committed such an error of judgement as to start a political affair with these provocative and blinkered throwbacks to sectarian intolerance, but having done so, it falls to it, on top of everything else, to make quite sure the UUP stand in line with Sinn Fein and the DUP.

We need to remember that without the Ulster Unionists, Ireland would be one country, there would have been no bombings and Catholics and Protestants would have been living happily side by side as they do everywhere else in the civilised world, including in England, Scotland and Wales. Heath dumped the Unionists when he saw they were beyond the pale, Thatcher kept her distance and Major broke free and began the dialogue with the IRA that led to the Peace Process, brought to fruition by Blair before he left the rails. The decent centre of British politics is repelled by bigotry and it is from this centre that the Tories need to gain votes to win.

If the UUP do out of pique because they are a spent force or out of spite or whatever, vote No tomorrow Cameron needs to call Sir Reg Empey, their leader, to tell him that the electoral pact with his party has been torn up and thrown in the bin.