“An insult to anyone’s intelligence"

In today’s “Newsletter” one of the DUP’s twelve apostles said that “it would be an insult to anyone’s intelligence” for the government to say that the time between a Sinn Fein/IRA endorsement of policing and the elections pencilled in for March would constitute a “credible” testing period.

Mr Campbell stated that as Sinn Fein/IRA had “not committed even yet to calling the first of their two meetings to endorse any possible changes to their attitude to policing” the testing period is so short as to be “out of the question”.

Interesting phrase that, “out of the question”. Does anyone recall it occurring in any DUP publications?

Mr Campbell, if rumours in the media are to be believed, is unhappy with some of the contents of the deal struck at St Andrews. However, he seems to agree with his party colleagues, such as Mrs Foster, when they say that if Sinn Fein/IRA sign up to policing then there is no reason why the DUP should not go into government with republicans.

Well, since Mr Campbell’s comments, Mr Adams and co HAVE called the first of their two meetings. Republicans announced that they would hold a meeting of their national executive to consider a proposal for a special party conference next month.

It is a well known fact that the leadership of Sinn Fein/IRA (like that of the DUP) don’t do dissent. If Gerry and Martin are going to call such meetings you can be sure that they have the votes in the bag.

Mr Campbell may still think that the period to test republican bonafides on policing is too short but it doesn’t change the fact that the DUP WILL share power with republicans in the future.

Given that one of the two meetings Mr Campbell mentioned has already been called, is it not reasonable to assume that this will be in the not too distant future?

It is “an insult to anyone’s intelligence” to suggest that if murderers like Gerry Kelly sign up to a police force in which they will have a say (if not in some future executive position then at least through their representatives on the Policing Board) they are democrats.

It is “an insult to anyone’s intelligence” to say that any executive formed under the d’Hondt formula would be democratic.

It is “an insult to anyone’s intelligence” for the DUP to claim that St Andrews is anything more than the Belfast Agreement in a kilt.

It is “an insult to anyone’s intelligence” for the DUP leader to claim that when it comes to politics “the first rule is to stick to your policies and never deviate” when he is on record as saying that “the DUP will never negotiate Ulster’s future with the murderers of the IRA or their representatives and the DUP will not sit down with the godfathers of IRA terrorism”.

It is “an insult to anyone’s intelligence” to claim that the DUP “consulted” with the Unionist electorate when they ignored the numerous letters in the press which attacked the party for fundamental breaches of its manifesto.

It is “an insult to anyone’s intelligence” for the DUP to say that they are opposed to Irish language legislation when they failed to oppose the St Andrews Agreement Bill at Westminster.