Rearranging metaphors on the reshuffle
Proof positive that the TUV and UUP are not cooperating over their communications policy. Both Jim Allister and David McNarry reckon today's DUP reshuffle amounts to "nothing more than a rearranging of the deck chairs on the Titanic".
Both parties seized on the fact that Sammy Wilson is hanging on to his MP, MLA, ministerial and councillor jobs as evidence that the DUP is, in Sir Reg Empey's words, "addicted to double jobbing".
Peter Robinson insists the removal of Nigel Dodds, Gregory Campbell and Jeffrey Donaldson from his ministerial team shows his party is tackling the issue. But the UUP will now urge David Cameron to make good on his election campaign pledge to legislate against double jobbing.
Whilst the Greens may crack open a bottle of organic fair trade wine to celebrate Sammy's departure, I don't imagine Irish language enthusiasts will be overjoyed about the arrival of Nelson McCausland at the Culture Department. He says he is committed to equality, but may interpret that rather differently from them. He also indicated he'd consider attending a GAA match, but never on a Sunday.
Although the DUP is denying that Robin Newton's elevation as junior minister is pre-empting their selection meeting for the East Belfast Westminster candidacy, it's hard to interpret it in any other way.
Tonight Sinn Fein won a vote backing the latest call for greater equality monitoring by criminal justice agencies. The DUP's Stephen Moutray opposed the move as "section 75 gone mad", something which would lead to "enormous additional bureacracy and red tape".
But when it came to the vote, the motion passed by 31 to 26. Could this have had anything to do with double jobbing, given that the DUP's MPs were over at Westminster choosing a new Speaker? Well maybe, although the DUP claim 11 Ulster Unionists were also absent, even though they didn't have other jobs to go to.
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