O’Conall Street

What an amazing week for British politics. No election this autumn means a year or two of head to head politics between the shrewed Scot and the young pretender.

 It’s going to be fascinating stuff. Cameron still has a party to reorganise and as I said this weekalready one speech, no matter how great, does not mark a turnaround. But Brown is now on the back foot, no doubt about it. He has a united party behind him but the prebudget report, the Comprehensive Spending Review and a a myriad of other issues are only days away.

Bertie Ahern has a maxim. You stick it out till they throw you out. Brown may turn out to be the genius but today Dave looks bigger than ever and the nation’s love affair with slick, young, charismatic leaders seems alive as ever.

 It’s good news for Northern Ireland though. No one would have benefited from a snap poll. The UUP have time to think long and hard about their tactics. I am not so sure unionist pacts will serve Reg Empey’s party well at all. Our local politicians should knuckle down and start working hard with the British Government to get the final pieces of the devolution Jigsaw in place. Policing and Justice powers must be devolved sooner rather than later and Numbers 10 and 11 need to face up to the need to harmonise corporation tax on this island.

Parliament returns on Tuesday. I remember sitting in the strangers gallery for PMQs one day in 1996. Blair v Major was electric stuff. The oldest parliament in the world can look forward again to some pretty epic duels across the dispatch box.

Sir Alan Gillespie, Chairperson of the Ulster Bank, this week suggested that serious consideration should be given to the establishment of an all island trade promotion body to carry out the functions of INI in the North and the IDA in the South. It’s not new idea. Indeed mark Durkan, now SDLP leader, floated it some years ago. Nor is it a new model. Tourism Ireland has since 2001 been successfully marketing the Island of Ireland abroad and a single entity.

There was predictable unionist political coolness at the idea but I suspect this position might gradually shift over time, particularly if there is some move on corporation tax to make NI’s rate more competitive.

The media gave the proposal a general welcome with a strong favourable editorial in the Irish Times. I trust Northern politicians of all colours will allow the space for a constructive and informed debate in the months ahead and that business and representative bodies will become involved too.

I am very happy to see Joan Burton elected Deputy Leader of the Irish labour Party. She will rise to the significant challenge ahead with style and substance. O’Conall Street has had an eye Burton since the day Pat Rabbitte resigned. This is no ordinary woman but a fighter from her top to her toe. She is also a woman of substance who turned down a very promising career in professional accountancy to enter politics. I do believe Brian Cowan has been heard to comment how he wished she hadn’t! 

I owe Joan a lot. She gave me my first job in politics and has been an encouragement and supporter of everything I have done since. It’s a special day on O’Conall Street also because this is the second great Irish woman I have had the privilege to work for, who has become Deputy Leader of a Labour Party in Ireland. The first was of course Brid Rodgers.

Off to pop a cork and salute a good friend but before I go, I could not let the day end without noting the great Tony Benn’s return to politics. Well into his eighties the undisputed leader of political substance in Britain has accepted the nomination for Kensington.

Put on your red shoes cause you are going to be dancing down the streets this autumn was my mates rallying call on the phone last night.

Yes folks, its election time and despite his very best efforts big ‘Dave’ Cameron proved again yesterday that in the same way a swallow does not make a summer, one speech does not make a political turn around.

The big question locally of course will be whether there is a unionist pact. The DUP are foaming at the mouth for one with Fermanagh South Tyrone and South Belfast in their sights. The UUP is all over the place on the issue as it has been on so many issues in recent years.

On the nationalist side one thing is certain. The SDLP and SF will fight their own campaigns.

The Down Democrat himself and my right hand man here at Weber Shandwick, Chris Brown, tells me this could be a historic weekend poll. If so are we looking at Sat 3rd November. Good day to go to the polls and one which is likely to give the bookies an extra little bit of fun as it coincides with the big pre-Christmas James Nicholson Champion Chase at Down Royal. My money is on Gordon anyway. 

Yesterday’s Observer was a particularly good read. Just as well because the Rugby was diabolical and the weather positively autumnal. Things did pick up in Belfast after dark though when Botanic Gardens was transformed into a fairy wonderland much to the entertainment of young and old alike - magic!

Back to the Observer. Good articles on the Obama campaign for the democratic nomination and an interesting interview with Ian Paisley Snr. The one that caught my eye for this blog was Nick Cohen’s column about censorship on the net. With Burma confronting us daily and news the authorities are shutting down the web to control information, one is reminded of Yahoo’s less than fantastic deal with the Chinese government last year. Must be careful what I say here though, because as the blond bombshell himself, Boris Johnston knows, you can get shut down in cyberspace for saying the wrong thing. So much for freedom of speech and information without borders for the London mayoral hopeful. More from Mr Cohen.

On an absolute tangent. Always hunting for cool T-shirt sources. New Belfast one has just emergered. www.teeandtoast.com is great. ‘Conker Your Enemy’ above a good example of their quirky creativity.