UUP’s Tory link hangs in the balance
THE Conservatives’ link with the Ulster Unionists last night appeared to be hanging by a thread as the Tories announced that they are setting up their own Ulster campaign operation.
In a statement from Conservative Central Office, the party said that it would be opening an office in Bangor and that “one of the party’s most senior campaign directors” had been appointed to liaise with local Tories.
The statement made no reference to the UUP and it appeared last night that it had not been communicated to the UUP before being released.
The Tory statement said: “The party is committed to the development of progressive centre right politics which offer the electorate of Northern Ireland the opportunity to cast their votes for and participate directly with the national government of the United Kingdom.
“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.
“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.”
And, in a tacit rejection of UUP leader Tom Elliott, who has called for the local Tories to be disbanded, Conservative co-chairman Baroness Warsi said: “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.”
However, the party will not stand against the UUP in May’s assembly elections.
The statement comes just two months after a joint UUP-Tory statement which appeared to cement the two parties’ link, albeit in a format different to that of UCUNF.
However, it appears that those who drafted that joint statement believed it to have been more ambiguous about the future of the relationship than it was read to have been by members of both parties.
It prompted the resignation of the chairman of the Conservatives in Northern Ireland, Irwin Armstrong, who accused senior party figures of reneging on promises to stand candidates in May’s assembly election.
However, following that statement a delegation of local Conservatives are understood to have travelled to London to press Conservative co-chairman Lord Feldman to allow Tory candidates in Northern Ireland.
Last week a senior CCHQ official visited Northern Ireland for a series of meetings about the party’s future.
The news comes after it emerged that the Conservative secretary of state, Owen Paterson, has rejected an appeal from UUP leader Tom Elliott — supported by the DUP and SDLP — to reverse the St Andrews Act changes to choosing a first minister.
Mr Elliott, who had made the policy a key plank of his campaign to become UUP leader, said that he was “disappointed” by the refusal. The Fermanagh and South Tyrone assemblyman walked out of a meeting with Mr Paterson a fortnight ago when Mr Paterson made clear that the government had no plans to change the rules on choosing a first minister.
Last week the Strangford UUP candidate, Mike Nesbitt, appeared to suggest that the UUP’s link with the Tories had weakened since December.
He said that it merely meant that the UUP “will look favourably on taking the Tory whip” in Europe or Westminster, but only “on issues that do not pertain specifically to Northern Ireland”.
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Weather for Belfast
Tuesday 29 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 12 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South
