Slugger O'Toole (Free subscription) | 19/11/2009
We’ve been picking up a fair amount of frustration in and around the UCU - NF, that new force that seems reluctant to speak its name. Chekov gave pretty gentle vent to some of the frustrations being felt inside the party at Reg Empey’s reluctance to actually make a decision. So far the Tories have committed money and are building capacity at the Central Office end, with the addition of...
BBC NEWS | The Devenport Diaries (Free subscription) | 12/11/2009
Critics are getting their teeth into the Employment Minister Sir Reg Empey after he called some16 - 24 year olds not in employment, education or training "vampires" because they get up at 3pm and stay up all night. Alliance youth chair Conrad Dickson, for example, reckons that whilst Sir Reg is siting in "his ministerial ivory tower" and hurling "insults at young people",...
Graham Pointer's Blog (Free subscription) | 28/10/2009
With the general election a few months away, in Northern Ireland, the Conservatives and the Ulster Unionist Party are fighting on a joint ticket. Now, I had naturally assumed that there would either be a battle between Conservative and UUP wannabe MPs in each constituency to decide which would be the official Ulster Conservative & Unionist candidate, or that the seats would be divided between the...
Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness (Free subscription) | 28/10/2009
When four Ulster Unionists signed a letter of protest, attacking their party leader’s decision to forge an electoral pact with David Cameron’s Conservatives, I welcomed the opportunity to bring dissent out into the open. Roy Garland was one figure whose name appeared on the letter, and its contents reflected closely the preoccupations which colour his weekly column in the Irish News. In...
Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness (Free subscription) | 26/10/2009
Before we consign the Ulster Unionist conference to the archives for another year, there are a couple of points worth addressing, which have been rather sidelined by the thorny issue of agreed candidates and the small, ancient cadre of UCUNF dissenters. The leader’s speech touched on more substantive policy considerations than commentators have generally acknowledged. Long sections were, after...
Slugger O'Toole (Free subscription) | 26/10/2009
Well no visit from David Cameron this year to the UUP party conference (and no live blog from Slugger either, for which apologies real life took over this weekend I’m afraid), but a pretty well recieved oration from William Hague who opened by professing his political identity as a Unionist… And who chose to deliver some national headline grabbing remarks (full text below the fold)...
BBC News (Free subscription) | 26/10/2009
David Ford criticises Sir Reg Empey for claiming that a justice minister chosen from the Alliance would be a puppet for Sinn Fein and the DUP.
The Irish Times (Free subscription) | 26/10/2009
Ulster Unionist Party conference:THE STORMONT Executive must be reformed to enable it to act as a fully functioning four-party coalition, Sir Reg Empey told his party’s annual conference at the weekend.
Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness (Free subscription) | 25/10/2009
On Friday O’Neill offered a fairly imporous case against agreed candidates, on Unionist Lite. When I spoke to Sir Reg Empey yesterday he echoed many of O’Neill’s points. I wonder whether the Ulster Unionist leader, or an adviser, is an avid reader of the blog? It certainly provided a fine template to answer the most incessant question of the day. Ironically, O’Neill points out...
Slugger O'Toole (Free subscription) | 24/10/2009
During the coverage of the UUP Conference today, BBC NI’s Jim Fitzpatrick did a quick interview with the Conservative Party’s Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Owen Paterson, MP. Here’s a question and answer transcribed from that interview. [ Jim Fitzpatrick ] “Perhaps there is less of a tension on the constitutional issue in those areas, although Scotland excepted...
SAOIRSE32 (Free subscription) | 24/10/2009
Saturday, 24 October 2009 A future Conservative government will refuse to fund costly inquiries into the Northern Ireland Troubles, shadow foreign secretary William Hague said today . He told the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) annual conference in Belfast that it was time for Northern Ireland to move forward. And he joined UUP leader Sir Reg Empey in claiming their parties' plan to fight the General...
BBC News (Free subscription) | 24/10/2009
The executive must be fully involved in any decision to devolve policing and justice powers, Sir Reg Empey tells the UUP conference.
BBC NEWS | The Devenport Diaries (Free subscription) | 24/10/2009
I'm just back from the Europa hotel where I was helping out on our coverage of the Ulster Unionist conference. Inevitably there was less of a buzz about the gathering than last year's event when David Cameron turned up as the special guest. But the turnout appeared high with many left standing at the back, and William Hague's speech went down well. Sir Reg Empey used his speech to set out his stall...
Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness (Free subscription) | 24/10/2009
I've just been chatting to the party leader, in the wake of a successful conference speech. I took the opportunity to ask him about the 'unionist unity' question. He was fairly adamant that the Conservatives and Unionists would not be standing aside. It is clear that Arlene Foster's involvement in the DUP campaign for an electoral deal is particularly irksome to Ulster Unionists. Sir Reg was scathing...
Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness (Free subscription) | 24/10/2009
Ladies and Gentlemen: Thank you for coming. I am delighted that so many of you are here today, demonstrating your commitment to the Party and the Union. As I have said on other occasions the grassroots of the UUP are the backbone of the party. I’m also very pleased that William Hague agreed to be our guest speaker … and I am grateful to him for taking time out of a very busy schedule to...
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