31.10.03
Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Paisley pledges to vanquish Trimble at poll
Paisley pledges to vanquish Trimble at poll
Rosie Cowan, Ireland correspondent
Friday October 31, 2003
The Guardian
Ian Paisley, leader of the Democratic Unionist party, began his election campaign yesterday with a blistering promise to vanquish David Trimble and bury the Good Friday agreement.
The 77-year-old fundamentalist preacher took the stage at a south Belfast hotel, surrounded by 40 candidates, amid a stirring fanfare and rapturous ovation.
The DUP opposed the 1998 peace accord from the outset, and aims to capitalise on ebbing Protestant support for it to overtake Mr Trimble's Ulster Unionist party as Northern Ireland's biggest party, and to force a renegotiation.
With the twice-postponed Stormont poll going ahead on November 26, despite the breakdown of a deal between Ulster Unionists and Sinn Fein, Mr Paisley claimed his goal was now within reach.
In a typical fire and brimstone speech, the DUP leader thundered: "Supporting Mr Trimble is to ride the roller coaster towards complete Dublin control and the reign of the IRA over Northern Ireland. At long last, it is in the hands of the unionists of Ulster to sweep IRA/Sinn Fein armed terrorists from the government of Northern Ireland, and to keep them out."
Some pundits believe that the DUP, should it come out on top, could seek some sort of accommodation with republicans. But Mr Paisley said: "It is no surrender to the IRA. We will not discuss it, we will not debate it, until you [IRA] are prepared to repent."
Ulster Unionists insist the DUP has no ideas with which to replace the Good Friday accord and nothing to offer but negativity. But Mr Paisley will do his best to exploit bitter divisions within the UUP, and feed unionist fears that Gerry Kelly, the IRA Old Bailey bomber turned Sinn Fein politician, could soon be Stormont minister of policing and justice.
The DUP owes much of its success to Mr Paisley's following: he has topped the local poll five times in the European parliament, and the party won three Westminster seats in 2001, bringing its number of MPs to five, compared with the UUP's six, although three of those are anti-agreement.
The single transferable vote system for the Stormont election is unpredictable. However, even if the DUP does not come out on top, it could join forces with other unionists to block creation of an executive.
Paisley pledges to vanquish Trimble at poll
Rosie Cowan, Ireland correspondent
Friday October 31, 2003
The Guardian
Ian Paisley, leader of the Democratic Unionist party, began his election campaign yesterday with a blistering promise to vanquish David Trimble and bury the Good Friday agreement.
The 77-year-old fundamentalist preacher took the stage at a south Belfast hotel, surrounded by 40 candidates, amid a stirring fanfare and rapturous ovation.
The DUP opposed the 1998 peace accord from the outset, and aims to capitalise on ebbing Protestant support for it to overtake Mr Trimble's Ulster Unionist party as Northern Ireland's biggest party, and to force a renegotiation.
With the twice-postponed Stormont poll going ahead on November 26, despite the breakdown of a deal between Ulster Unionists and Sinn Fein, Mr Paisley claimed his goal was now within reach.
In a typical fire and brimstone speech, the DUP leader thundered: "Supporting Mr Trimble is to ride the roller coaster towards complete Dublin control and the reign of the IRA over Northern Ireland. At long last, it is in the hands of the unionists of Ulster to sweep IRA/Sinn Fein armed terrorists from the government of Northern Ireland, and to keep them out."
Some pundits believe that the DUP, should it come out on top, could seek some sort of accommodation with republicans. But Mr Paisley said: "It is no surrender to the IRA. We will not discuss it, we will not debate it, until you [IRA] are prepared to repent."
Ulster Unionists insist the DUP has no ideas with which to replace the Good Friday accord and nothing to offer but negativity. But Mr Paisley will do his best to exploit bitter divisions within the UUP, and feed unionist fears that Gerry Kelly, the IRA Old Bailey bomber turned Sinn Fein politician, could soon be Stormont minister of policing and justice.
The DUP owes much of its success to Mr Paisley's following: he has topped the local poll five times in the European parliament, and the party won three Westminster seats in 2001, bringing its number of MPs to five, compared with the UUP's six, although three of those are anti-agreement.
The single transferable vote system for the Stormont election is unpredictable. However, even if the DUP does not come out on top, it could join forces with other unionists to block creation of an executive.
