Castle Catholics must save Robbo

Dr John Coulter with a piece on the status of Peter Robinson's leadership of the DUP that initially featured in the Irish Daily Star 0n 26 August 2013.
 
Calling all Castle Catholics … we need you to mobilise to save Emperor Robbo from the DUP fundamentalist chop. 

Nationalists – and especially Shinners – should not gloat at the clearly looming coup which will see Robbo endure the same fate as his predecessor, Big Ian, as First Minister. 

The DUP grassroots are making a stern choice – save the party by moving to the Unionist Right, or secure the peace process and risk the same poll meltdown as the rival UUP. 

In one of his most liberal speeches at a party conference, Robbo said that more Catholic Unionists – the so-called Castle Catholics – and Garden Centre Papists (well off middle class Catholics) would vote for and even join the modernising DUP. 

If Robbo is to survive in the long-term, that is well beyond next year's Euro and shadow super council polls, he needs the Castle Catholics to support him in their tens of thousands. 

Nationalists need to know that the DUP is a political movement which puts party before people. Like the Communist ethos, it is the party which must come first. 

Robbo has been a life-long DUP stalwart, but that counts for nothing if the party's 'Men in Black suits' decide he is of no further use. 

Look at the fate of the party's founder Ian Paisley senior. He built his movement from an anti-O'Neill protest party in the late 1960s to the lead voice of Unionism by 2003. 

As First Minister, Paisley presided over the North's longest period of stable devolved government since the original Stormont Parliament was axed in 1972. 

But the DUP's once-dominant fundamentalist faction decided that the Chuckle Brothers routine with Shinner deputy Marty McGuinness was 'supping soup with the devil' and Big Ian had to be chopped.

Three clear factions are vying for control of the DUP and it's important for nationalism and the Stormont Executive's stability that Robbo's modernising clique wins. 

If Enterprise Minister and UUP defector Arlene Foster wins, it will be business as usual for the Executive. 

But the party will drift to the Centre Right if former finance minister Sammy Wilson clinches the leadership reigns in a bid to woo back the tens of thousands of working class loyalist voters who have ditched the DUP. 

The real strain will come on the peace process if the traditional fundamentalists snatch the top DUP with East Derry MP Gregory Campbell. 

That will see the DUP lurch radically to the Unionist Right-wing and will pressurise the Executive to breaking point. Remember, the DUP is a political beast which would rather see party unity than a stable peace process. 

Policy-wise, Robbo's 2013 DUP is a mirror image of Davy Trimble's 2003 UUP. With Arlene as DUP boss, and fellow UUP defector wee Jeffrey Donaldson as her closest advisor, the basis is set for a DUP/UUP merger. 

For the first time ever, the DUP's rock-solid draconian internal discipline is starting to crack. Behind the scenes, no matter what the media spin, these three factions will lock horns. So expect the winning clique to purge the party of the other two. 

Castle Catholics need to ensure that a brand of moderate Unionism occupies the Executive which can work competently with the Shinners. 

The DUP may ditch Robbo, but Castle Catholics must – for the sake of the peace process – never abandon the liberal Unionist movement he developed at Stormont.

Do Castle Catholics really want Unionism to be represented by flag-campaigning hardliners, Orange parade fanatics, or anti-Catholic Bible-thumpers? 

Perhaps a post-Robbo DUP is beyond redemption. If that is indeed the case, Castle Catholics must save the Executive by piling into Mike Nesbitt's UUP or Basil McCrea's NI21.

14 comments:

  1. I imagine the best strategy for Robbo is to continue screwing the Castle Catholics he has in government with him. With minimum resistance he is onto a winner. The union is going to survive come what may. And it was not the fundamentalist section alone that shafted Paisley - none held the dagger for longer than Robbo. And there was no chance that he was going to retreat and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory just to appease the Free Ps. He got into bed with the Shinners but ony to screw them.

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  2. The DUP that did not want Catholics
    to get the vote or its civil rights back in the day now needs these new votes to save its back-side-it not for happening-Robbos head is on the block and that axe will surely swing-and I will be glad to see the head of Robbo fall into the Castle moat-who takes over from him at the DUP helm-who cares-for their head will also drop into the moat-

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  3. They say all political careers end in failure,none know that more so than Pete the punt,he is a northern version of the cute hoor politicians of the republic, Robinson is smart enough to know that he has run his course and arrogant enough to hang on until he receives his knighthood,why he would want one other than how impressive it will look on his curriculum vitae,for I reckon Pete the punt will head for sunnier climes and leave the dreary steeples of Fermanagh never to return,the dup are like the I do I dont clown they want the power but they dont want a taig about the place hence the eternal turmoil which will eventually lead to their fragmentation,all it will take it is another few concessions to nationalism or the appearance of such and a possible shift in the nationalist numbers in an upward direction to send them into meltdown mode, who gives a fuck its just a pity they couldnt take those scumbags in quisling $inn £eind with them.we would be all better of without any of those wasters.

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  4. Peter Robinson. A nasty little man he is. Spineless to stand up against loyalist rioting, not that he wants to as it suits him. Years of leading terror gangs up the garden path only to ditch them. Now he is trying to screw Sinn Fein all the while pleading for Catholics and people of Irish identity to vote for his party. The party that hates Irish, Catholics and anybody who is not a far right wacko. He is so busy screwing everybody else his poor wife had to go and get screwed elsewhere.

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  5. If Dr Coulter had have included all "NON THINGS" MLA's Have been doing for the Ordinary working class People , and , I Mean "All Of The People".
    They swan of to USA , but get nothing. No one wants to invest anything in Norn Iron anymore. All parties have had long enough to sort their differences out, but when the crunch comes and DUP feel under pressure they jump on the side of flag protester , Stating "Everyone has the right to protest" , Except Nationalists of course.

    Its the same with the loyalist orange order parades , Robinson stated that, Its their democratic right to walk the streets, But not so for Nationalists. My question to John Coulter is, "Do you call that a shared society"?. As for so called Castle Catholics, Shame on them" voting for people who utterly detest them , when trouble comes to their front doors by Loyalist protesters, Who do they call , The Grand master , Peter the punt, RUC/PSNI. Do't call any , you need to be wearing an orange sash to get help, and hell slap it up you. We know the orange order is well split , and , the more it is split the better , Many an egg I have rolled down cavehill as a child at easter , Now the DUP's heads will be rolling down it, More hard liners will be elected and let the wheels continue to turn , The Unionists will never allow nationalists to have a real say. They all sit at stormont, and , what do they do?, "Debate about Debates , Instead of Creating Jobs , wealth, for everyone. What a shambles our country is in.

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  6. Itsjustmackers norn iorn is not my country ,its a part of the province of Ulster,which in turn is part of my country called Ireland,not this artificial statelet called norn iorn.

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  7. Marty:

    You have been using the same word "norn iron" for as far as I can Remember , so whats wrong with me using it, I can't use Ulster because the other 3 counties are in Eire, Should I use the wee 6c instead.?.
    I don't get your Drift.

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  8. This is a statement just released by Derry~Londonderry Sinn Fein calling for people to get on the electoral register...

    "Sinn Féin have shown the differences we can make when we have the mandate. The RUC as we know it is gone and never to return, along with the Orange State, The Orange Order can no longer dictate where they walk when they want! Unionism wants to change this and are currently registering in a big way! Keep Sinn Féin marching towards Unity and play your part, Register & Vote Sinn Fein!!..."

    The RUC are part of the PSNI as we saw....

    http://www.u.tv/News/Inquest-into-first-fatal-PSNI-operation/dd85f132-b6aa-493b-9e33-06984dcb3534

    This line is proof that SF and DUP might be sitting together in Stormont but they need sectarian division to stay there...

    " Unionism wants to change this and are currently registering in a big way! "


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  9. Itsjustmackers a cara "instead of creating jobs , wealth for everyone, what a shambles our country is in "I have never referred to this place as "our country",those who have, have indeed created wealth,ask the Paisleys, Robinsons,Mc Guinness, and Adams and the rest who have made a fortune out of what is called norn iorn and its troubles,as for jobs well again plenty of them have been created for cronies of the above in the "community " sector and again all through the misery which is this place you referred to as" our country" I use the derogatory term norn iorn when referring to this place,which again as I have stated many times before is an artificial state and certainly not my country , sin é

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  10. Dixie a cara my first words after falling about laughing at the statement from quisling $inn £eind was "fuck is this a joke" just this week it has been stated that ex ruc officers where again involved in summary execution ,ex special branch handsomely pensioned of and then rehired to investigate murders which they may have been involved in. for fuck sake are these people for real, the orange order and their cronies have been the underlying cause of the troubles and bitterness here for years, their continual refusal to respect their neighbours is highlighted everytime they pass a church ,their respect for the law of the land is has been shown as hypocritical nonsense , It has been seen worldwide their murderous attacks on the police force of the land who were enforcing the parades commission,s determination,quisling $inn £einds only difference is that now they are as much a part of the problem as the bigots in the dup,and the orange order .

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  11. Marty:

    "what a shambles our country is in "


    You have taken the above out of context, "Our Country" = The whole Island Of Ireland" , No nationalists would call the wee 6c "Our Country"?.
    When I state shambles it equates to
    The whole Island, Ie, Bankers getting bail outs, cuts in benefits,additional taxes,Austerity measures!, Peace Center! , Loyalists still trying to dominate thinking its still 1968/69, ffs the lists is endless as you know. We al Know the wee 6c is 6 off 9 counties of Ulster, 3 of which are in Eire, put there by the brits to give loyalists a majority , yet they were a minority in Derry City.

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  12. Itjustmackers ."the unionists will never allow nationalists to have a real say.they all sit in STORMONT and what do they do? debate about debates,instead of creating jobs,wealth for everyone .what a shambles our country is in "what other context can I take that in a cara other than how it is written?

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  13. Marty:

    Read it how you want, It doesn't bother me in the least.

    I know exactly what it means!.

    I wish I had put the rest, RE Bankers,Taxes,Benefits,austerity,peace center,loyalist,etc into original post.

    But I doubt if you would have noticed those, Something caught your eye and you jumped at it.

    That's all I will say on the matter.

    I know the wee 6c is a part of one of our 4 provinces "ULSTER", the other 3 counties are in "The Republic".

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  14. Castle News-

    In a story on page 2 in the Irish news it says that Sinn Fein have urged all people to
    complete the new electoral forms in full-[ which is correct ]220,000 forms have not been all filled in-there is a small
    item-[nearly missed it myself]in which people have been asked if they have been in residence in Northern Ireland for at least 3 months-[its obvious that there are some who want to keep tabs on any new immigrants now living here-and hopefully that bit can be removed or not made public to any other person/group ]-
    Todays story had no reporters name attached to it what is becoming the norm in that paper and the RNU was not asked there response to this despite them also standing next year-and you can bet that miss morris will keep them out of this-
    talk about a two faced report about
    Sinn Fein asking people if they live in Northern Ireland-there is
    also a good section of the electoral form where people can put down that they are Irish-the Irish news turned blind to that as well-

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