Andrew Grocock: Now is the time for all those in support of the Union to work together

Such crass statements really stick in the craw of all those who have worked relentlessly to negotiate a better Windsor Framework, improving the lot of all those living in Northern Ireland by getting the political institutions back up and running.

Such hostile headlines serve only to antagonise the various unionist factions and divide communities which all too often believe what they read in the press.

Of course, the separatist narrative is swallowed with gusto by a predominantly nationalist sympathising Northern Ireland media, without any push back, regardless of constitutional polling registering a consistent solid pro-Union position.

But now is the time for supporters of the Union to work together, across all political and business sectors, to create the conditions for a thriving Northern Ireland, where prosperity ensures the prospect of a united Ireland is condemned as the distant fantasy project that we all know it to be.

The news that retired British Army Colonel Tim Collins OBE has decided to run as a Westminster Parliamentary candidate for the Ulster Unionist Party in North Down is just the kind of boost that political unionism has been looking for and should be the catalyst for a sensible conversation between the political leaders of the three main unionist parties when campaign planning and selections for the upcoming General Election come around.

He will not be the first former British Army officer to represent this constituency.

In February 1922 the former Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, was elected as the MP.

He was born in Ballinalee in Co Longford and was commissioned into the Royal Irish Regiment in 1884.

Sadly, his tenure as an MP was short lived.

On June 22, 1922 he was murdered by two former British soldiers, who were members of the London IRA, on the steps of his home at 36 Eaton Place, Belgravia in London.

It was a crime that shocked the nation.

His two killers were caught and hung on August 10, 1922.

Colonel Collins could I believe be a model example of the voting electorate being given a single unionist candidate, in full knowledge that this would give the best possible chance of securing a unionist representative at Westminster.

The Together UK Foundation is delighted to publish an article recently written by Colonel Collins entitled ‘Northern Ireland and the Defence of the Union’.

This is a tremendous history of Northern Ireland’s importance to UK defence and its special geographical position covering the most important sea approaches to the British Isles.

It also spells out the vast numbers of Northern Irish men who have signed up to defend the United Kingdom (pro rata, more than any other constituent part of the UK), many of whom gave the ultimate sacrifice, throughout many conflicts.

Andrew Grocock is chief executive officer (CEO) at Together UK Foundation