THERE was a certain Rev Ian Paisley-like focus and determination in the way that the DUP East Belfast MP Gavin Robinson strode past protesting trade unionists on Monday towards the gates of Hillsborough Castle for round-table talks on the restoration of devolution.
Nothing strange about that, you may say – Mr Robinson’s stature is as large and imposing as that of the late DUP founder, after all. But Mr Robinson was at the head of a three-man DUP delegation which included his party leader, Jeffrey Donaldson. And if the contrast in the physical presence of the two men could hardly be starker, Mr Donaldson’s willingness to enter the talks almost literally in the shadow of a senior colleague gave further credence to the impression that the Lagan Valley MP lacks the leadership quality required to dig his party out of the tactical quagmire in which it finds itself.
There’s been a frustrating uncertainty about the words of Mr Donaldson in recent weeks as a series of signals suggested that the DUP has made the decision to get back to work – as those trade unionists demanded – and are now engaged in a damage limitation exercise aimed at denying the unionist moral high ground to the one-man-band that is the TUV. But time and time again, hopes that MLAs will at last be able to set about doing something for the people who elected them have been dampened by Mr Donaldson’s now deeply boring claim that more is needed.
The £2.5 billion financial package unveiled by No.10 in the lead-up to Monday’s talks is, of course, a bribe, although some normally straight-talking people seem strangely reluctant to use the word. And why wouldn’t the British Government attempt to bribe the DUP? In grabbing with both hands the billion pounds that came with the party’s confidence and supply deal with the Tories in 2018, the DUP showed that it is open to financial blandishment – and with that simple fact having been established it is just a matter of how much money it is going to take for the Tories to get the DUP to say yes.
The ace up the sleeve of the aforementioned Jim Allister is that he has nothing to lose in continuing to lambast any financial agreement for a return to Stormont as shabby, venal and a betrayal of the union. For the relatively hefty chunk of the unionist vote that he claims, he has almost no electoral base to worry about given the TUV’s chronic inability to locate or develop electable candidates; and so he can continue to woo DUP hardliners by constantly issuing dire warnings and grim predictions from the luxurious position of never having to provide any answers to the problems he claims to pinpoint.
Despite the TUV’s failure to make significant electoral inroads, the DUP remains in thrall to its threat and Mr Donaldson’s every word and gesture are carefully calculated to deny its opponent ammunition. If Mr Donaldson was shown to be incapable of leading physically on Monday, he’s also incapable of leading strategically, it seems.
