"Arsing about" in the Concerto Suite
The NI Tories fringe meeting was a sweaty occasion - 60 or so activists packed into the Hyatt hotel's compact Concerto suite. Sir Reg Empey's colourful response to yet more gridlock back at home made the news. It sounded a little incongruous to hear the always polite Employment and Learning Minister accusing his colleagues of "arsing about".
Otherwise the audience generated plenty of enthusiasm for their prospective marriage, although the terms of the engagement continue to be vague. Is it a CDU-CSU type arrangement enabling two parties to share national policies but vary matters regionally? Will we see the formation of a "Conservative and Unionist Council" with UUP MPs taking the Tory whip? If so, what about the absent Lady Sylvia Hermon?
Much was made of the need to appeal to Catholic voters. A a few English Tory activists, including one prospective parliamentary candidate, declared their Catholic roots. But if the Conservatives, campaigning under their own banner, didn't appeal widely to nationalists, why should a deal with the UUP make them any more attractive?
Back in 2003 the Conservatives indicated that if elected to the Assembly they would designate as "other" - a clear attempt to appeal across the boundaries. But it's hard to imagine a Tory-UUP force not designating as "unionist". Otherwise they would come under withering fire from the DUP. They may attempt to argue that a future Conservative government will do away with the designation system altogether. If they do, that will open a whole new can of beans.
P.S. At one point during the meeting, Owen Paterson referred to the avowedly atheistic, secular NI Tory Jeffrey Peel. Jeffrey responded that "Richard Dawkins is behind us". Mr Peelk had shared a platform with the author of the "God Delusion" at another fringe meeting. It was just a throw away comment, but it made me think it would be rather good if the "new political force" could field Professor Dawkins in Strangford. I am not convinced there are many votes in atheism there, but just imagine those debates between "God's Law" and the "God Delusion". It would put Palin versus Biden in the shade.
P.P.S. I have amended the spelling of the "a" word after a comment from Susie Flood. The consensus in the office is that she is correct, although my Collins dictionary provides no definitive guidance. However, it does contain the following note, which I found illuminating.
'Arse: Dating back at least a thousand years, and taboo till around the middle of the 20th century, this venerable "Anglo-Saxon" word now seems unlikely to cause offence in all but the most formal contexts. Its acceptability has possibly been helped by such useful verb formations as "to arse about" and "I can't be arsed" '.
I'm 
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