Voting for Change (and a Tub of Lard)
I spent yesterday following David Cameron around on his one day visit. As we pulled in to Ulster carpets in Portadown I felt a strange sense of nostalgia. I used to spend so much of my summer on the Garvaghy Road, but haven't been back there for a few years.
Enroute to Portadown on the M1 I noticed that eager Conservative and Unionist supporters had parked large mobile billboards with their "Vote for Change" message on a couple of bridges over the motorway. Presumably they hoped the leader would spot them on his way to the factory. It made me think fleetingly of the Potemkin villages supposedly erected in Rusia to impress the empress as she swept by.
Has the UCUNF got that "Vote For Change" slogan under copyright? If so I think they should sue Sinn Fein, who are using exactly the same headline on their latest North Belfast bulletin.
After Portadown it was on to Ballymena and Cameron's town hall meeting. Although there were a couple of pointed questions about the untrustworthiness of past Conservative governments, the potential Pm performed smoothly fielding enquiries about academic selection, victims, the Presbyterian Mutual Society (he thinks Gordon Brown should consider again whether to help their troubled savers) and flouridation.
One exchange which struck me came when a lady in the audience took the Tory leader to task over Alan Duncan's quip on "Have I Got News For You" about murdering Miss California.
David Cameron said the episode illustrated the dangers of politicians trying to make jokes, and he urged his colleagues to be cautious about accepting invitations from "Have I Got News For You" even if they risked the fate of Roy Hattersley, who was infamously replaced on the show by a tub of lard. He noted that the only politician to make a success of the satirical series had been Boris Johnson "and Boris is not quite like the rest of us."
I'm 
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~25~RS~)
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If only more people could see David Cameron in Northern Ireland I truly believe that Unionists would realise the potential that exists for a stronger Union. He is extremely able, media savvy and a passionate Unionist.
Also, Boris is awesome! Hope to see him on "Have I got News for you" again in the future.
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deluded fermanaghunionist
The Union is strong - have more confidence my insecure friend. It is secure becasue the DUP control Stormont, east west relations are being built up all the time and the embryonic all Ireland that was emerging under the guise of unaccountable all Ireland instiutions are now toothless tigers.
As for David Cameron - he drops in, he drops out again. and he'll drop the UUP after they crash and burn on 4th June.
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Interesting that Cameron over to campaign, conventional wisdom would say that if Nicholson was going to crash and burn then Cameron would want to stay well clear. Of course "conventional wisdom" has proved to be completely wrong in NI politics in the past!!
We don't have any polls to give a snap shot of the public mood, and NI polls are notoriously unreliable in any case, what evidence we have is anecdotal and often contradictory, but it does seem that the DUP are nervous at the support Alister is getting on the doorstep. Anyone who backed De Bruin to top the poll a couple of months ago should be feeling quietly confident. There's also a chance that there will be 2 Nationalist MEP's but time will tell!
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Mark
The difference is the CU's are new and shiny but with real substance.
I suspect the mobile trailers had the desired effect as they were probably for the journalists in the entourage, if you noticed them so must have all the others.
Cameron's performance was a master class in how to communicate with an audience and he was categorical in his support for the United Kingdom and his wish to see NI economy finally turned around.
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"the potential Pm performed smoothly fielding enquiries about academic selection,..."
Can someone please explain to me what the Conservatives opinion is on academic selection and how does that compare to that of Reg's UUP?
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patrick 78
Look at www.voteforchangeni.com to see what Cameron had to say on the subject. Just in case you don't see it the CU's fully support grammar schools in NI so The Conservatives in NI and the UUP have identical views.
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the tories are opposed to grammar schools in the rest of the UK, the just changed their policy to please the UUP here in the province - they are hypocrites saying whatever the voter wants to hear
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curious2009
You said -
"The Tories are opposed to grammar schools in the rest of the UK, the just changed their policy to please the UUP here in the province - they are hypocrites saying whatever the voter wants to hear"
That is what all politicians do.
Stormontspy
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Mark
Slightly off-topic but:
William Hague has been here all day with Jim Nicholson, and launched the CUs European Manifesto earlier but still no sign of a story on the BBC News website (its now 15:20).
Also you mention Cameron Direct, and your rating of his performance at it, on your blog here, but it only got a passing sentence along the lines of "it'll be happening later" on the main website story.
Am I being completely biased or do others think it is a bit odd that the likely future PM doing a town-hall style meeting in Ballymena, and the likely future foreign secretary launching the CU manifesto are not deemed worthy of at least a short story on the BBC News website?
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Edward
You call fermanaghunionist deluded and yet go on to delude yourself in saying the DUP are "in control of stormont"
What utter nonsense
Or are you saying that the DUP are "in control" of the mess that is our education at the minute?
SF/IRA are as much in control as the DUP. And the sooner you accept that FACT the better I think
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