ALEX KANE: NI Conservatives killed off by Cameron
A recent statement from the Conservative Party’s co-chairman, Baroness Warsi, bears very close scrutiny:
“The Party will continue to review how Conservatives in Northern Ireland can play a full part in the Conservative Party as in every other part of the United Kingdom and senior Conservatives in Northern Ireland will work with the Board of the Party to develop that relationship.”
So what, exactly, has Central Office been doing since October 1989 - when Conservative Associations here were formally recognised? They have been here for twenty-one years and all they can commit to now is something as insipid as a promise ‘to review.’
‘Central to that development will be the Party’s desire to see Conservative Associations formed in every Northern Ireland constituency and an active programme of membership recruitment at a local level.’
But if they haven’t been able to get Associations in all of Northern Ireland’s constituencies in the last two decades, what makes them think they can do it now? Particularly when it is couched as a ‘desire’ rather than a full-blooded pledge.
‘The Conservative Party in Northern Ireland has the unequivocal support of the Party nationally. Politics in Northern Ireland continues to evolve and we are determined to be at the heart of that evolution. Our approach will be one of active engagement – starting with the fielding of candidates in the Local Council elections in May.’
It is worth noting that I have seen the words ‘unequivocal support’ used in Central Office documents in 1989, 1992 and 1996. It turned out to mean nothing on those occasions and it means nothing now. On the same day that Conservatives in Scotland and Wales will be electing members to their Parliament and Assembly, Conservatives in NI will be barred from so doing. Not by their own choice, mind you, but simply because Central Office doesn’t want the Secretary of State to have to take sides when it really matters. It seems he can say what he likes when he is in Opposition---but not when he is in Government!
How can you be at the ‘heart of that evolution’ if, thirteen years after the first Assembly and weeks away from the fourth Assembly election, the Conservative Party (having stood in 1998, 2003 and 2007) will not field candidates this time? Instead, they will be fielding candidates for councils which have very little powers or influence: and to which they are very unlikely to win any seats!
Irwin Armstrong - who has returned to his role as Chair of the NI Conservatives - had this to say: ‘Members of our Executive have agreed that we would not now be able to properly contest the Assembly elections as we will not have the necessary infrastructure in place due to the events of recent months.’
If the Conservative Party, one of the most successful election machines in the world, had wanted to field candidates then it could—and very easily---have put an infrastructure in place. And if it was serious about success at the local council elections being held on the same day, then it would have put up Assembly candidates in some key constituencies and looked to benefit from a trickle down vote. The fact that it chose not to do so tells you everything you need to know about Central Office’s definition of ‘unequivocal support.’
So Irwin has been forced into the absurd position of saying that ‘we will therefore watch with interest the results of the Assembly elections in May and then decide on a detailed long term strategy... and put up credible candidates with the experience that can provide the leadership Northern Ireland requires.’
What is the point of planning to put up candidates in the future? What is the point of walking away from yet another battle? Irwin Armstrong is a thoroughly decent man, a man of utter integrity: but he and the NI Conservatives have signed up to a very bad deal, a deal that will kill off all hope of an electoral breakthrough. Let’s face it, twenty-one years is a very long time to still be talking about a long term strategy!
And that’s what Central Office is hoping for. Their expectation is that local candidates will poll very, very badly at the council elections, resulting in the knock-on effect of killing off recruitment and any residual media or electoral interest.
The Conservatives in Northern Ireland have been put through the same mill time after time. They are promised support, liaison, expertise and funding, but it ends up with so many caveats and strings attached that it turns out to be worthless. Writing last October, on the eve of their 21st anniversary, I said:
‘While the Conservatives have never made an electoral breakthrough here it hasn’t been for any lack of enthusiasm amongst its membership. But the fact remains that the wants and needs of Central Office and a Conservative government are not always the same as the wants and needs of the NI Area Council. Whether this turns out to be a 21st birthday worth celebrating will depend on whether David Cameron takes the local members under his wing, or treats them as merely the Conservative Party’s slightly embarrassing relatives.’
Cameron and Central Office have chosen the latter option. Local Conservatives have gained absolutely nothing new---nothing that they didn’t have at some previous point and which was then removed from them. Senior figures in Northern Ireland have been flattered, buttered-up, bought-off and emasculated. Baroness Warsi offers ‘unequivocal support’ while Owen Paterson describes the prospect of Martin McGuinness as First Minister as an ‘extraordinary endorsement of the progress that has been made.’ Which phrase do you think Conservatives will have thrown at them when they are campaigning and recruiting here?
Cameron has ensured that neither he nor senior colleagues will have to campaign this time for either UUP or Conservative candidates. He has lived up to the view I expressed of him on September 23, 2006: ‘I regard Cameron as flaky on just about everything and I don’t expect Northern Ireland, or the fate of his local colleagues, to be exceptions to the rule.’ The Conservative Party in Northern Ireland is dead, however much they may protest otherwise: and they have been killed off by a Conservative Prime Minister who never had and never will have the courage to face down the anti-Union elements in this part of the United Kingdom.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Belfast
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: East
