That’s the message which the Reform UK party has sent not just to 10 Downing Street and the Prime Minister’s desk, but right across the entire Westminster political establishment.
One of the key messages from Reform’s victories in mainland Britain’s elections in Scotland, Wales and England is that Hard Right politics are now part of the mainstream. Being Hard Right is no longer dismissed as being on the lunatic fringe of the political spectrum.
If the weekend results in Britain are taken as a benchmark and repeated in the next Westminster General Election, Reform boss Nigel Farage will be the next UK PM.
While such a prospect may well initially be welcomed with much cheering among Unionism in the UK generally, it could well bring the Northern Ireland pro-Union community down to earth with a rapid political bump.
In sporting terms, as a life-long Arsenal supporter, I’d compare the Reform victory at the weekend to the euphoria I felt when my beloved Gunners reached the Champions League final later this month for the first time since 2006 - only to learn that their opponents will be the fast-flowing Paris Saint-Germain team, affectionally known as PSG!
While Farage has consistently proven himself to be a vote winner - you need only look at his record in European elections with the United Kingdom Independence Party (Ukip) and later with the Brexit Party - the big question for the pro-Union community in Northern Ireland remains; can a Farage-led Westminster Government be trusted with the Union?
Oh yes, Scottish and Welsh nationalists can kiss goodbye to any hopes of an independence referendum while Farage has the keys to 10 Downing Street, but given past experiences with supposedly Right-wing administrations in Downing Street, perhaps the weekend euphoria at the Reform Hard Right victory will soon evaporate in Ulster.
Let’s not forget the track record of supposedly Right-wing Tory administrations in their treatment of the pro-Union community in Northern Ireland. In 1972, when Ted Heath was PM, he was responsible for the proroguing of the original Unionist-dominated Stormont Parliament which had run Northern Ireland for decades. Okay, Heath was regarded ideologically as a ‘Tory Wet’, but his administration was still - albeit slightly - Right of centre.
But the real lesson for Ulster’s pro-Union community from a Right-wing Tory administration in Downing Street came in 1979 after the Westminster General Election when Maggie Thatcher swept to power.
Unionists were hoping for a ‘no punches pulled’ policy towards the terror campaign by republicans. Even then Ulster Unionist Party leader, the late Jim Molyneaux, would talk privately about his ‘special relationship’ with Thatcher.
That was all to come to a crashing halt in November 1985 when Thatcher signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement which gave Dublin its first real saying in the running of Northern Ireland since partition in the 1920s.
While Thatcher was viewed nationally as a tough-talking Right-wing PM, Northern Ireland Unionism felt totally betrayed by the 1985 Hillsborough accord. Even all the marching as part of the Ulster Says No campaign failed to scupper the so-called Dublin Diktat.
Northern Ireland’s position within the Union was perceived to be further diluted in December 1993 when then Tory PM John Major signed the Downing Street Declaration with Dublin, a document which laid the foundation stone to the disbanding of the RUC and its replacement with the PSNI.
Okay, so those PMs were Tories of various shades of the Right. But with Reform, we in Northern Ireland Unionism must never forget that many who have defected to Reform have come from the Conservative party.
During my time as Northern Political Correspondent with the Irish Daily Star, I had the opportunity to interview Farage during his time in Ukip. While it was more a pub conversation than a formal interview, Farage made the same Right-wing uttering I’d heard in my past interviews with Right-wing Unionists, such as Rev Martin Smyth, Molyneaux, Enoch Powell, and Rev Ian Paisley.
So what should Unionists be learning from Reform’s weekend victory? The answer is tactically simple. Unionist leaders must be holding talks as soon as possible with Farage and his team to draw up a policy which will be set in political concrete in the event of Farage becoming PM in the next few years.
It must be a clear manifesto commitment with Reform; not a Molyneaux-style ‘special relationship’ of private conversations in the corridors of Westminster.
The combined Unionist leadership must not sit on their hands and simply pray for a Farage victory in a couple of years. Now is the time for forward planning. Firstly, they must persuade Farage that while Reform has organised in Northern Ireland, the party should not contest elections and further fragment the pro-Union vote.
Unionism should also campaign for the reform (forgive the pun please!) of the Stormont institutions, making the posts of first and deputy first minster elected as in 1998 - by designation, not by the largest parties as was given away by the DUP in the 2006 St Andrews Agreement.
And there must be a guarantee by Reform that the current hounding of security forces veterans for Troubles-related incidents will be binned.
Likewise, the names of those suspected of committing some of the heinous terrorist atrocities during the Troubles, especially unsolved murders, bombings and attacks, should be revealed in the Commons using parliamentary privilege.
There should be no more wasting of millions of pounds on needless inquiries. Parliament should be the place for naming and shaming.
Reform caused a lot of controversy during the election campaign in Britain with talk of detention camps for illegal immigrants while they are being processed for deportation.
Perhaps if Reform comes to power, those camps could be established in Northern Ireland as a welcome jobs boost for the construction industry, prison service and supporting employment.
And if Reform is pledging to halt the small boat crisis, then the UK will require a much expanded Royal Navy to mount an iron blockade across the English Channel. Northern Ireland has an impressive record in ship building. Those contracts for the new much-needed ships must come to Ulster.
During the Troubles, Northern Ireland had a reputation of housing some of the worst terrorists of that era. Given that experience, the creation of the special camps for illegal migrants and illegal asylum seekers and the funding and jobs it would bring to Ulster should be top of a PM Farage’s agenda. But will Farage turn out to be another Thatcher? Only time will tell, but Unionism must tread carefully if it is to play the Reform card.
One of the key messages from Reform’s victories in mainland Britain’s elections in Scotland, Wales and England is that Hard Right politics are now part of the mainstream. Being Hard Right is no longer dismissed as being on the lunatic fringe of the political spectrum.
If the weekend results in Britain are taken as a benchmark and repeated in the next Westminster General Election, Reform boss Nigel Farage will be the next UK PM.
While such a prospect may well initially be welcomed with much cheering among Unionism in the UK generally, it could well bring the Northern Ireland pro-Union community down to earth with a rapid political bump.
In sporting terms, as a life-long Arsenal supporter, I’d compare the Reform victory at the weekend to the euphoria I felt when my beloved Gunners reached the Champions League final later this month for the first time since 2006 - only to learn that their opponents will be the fast-flowing Paris Saint-Germain team, affectionally known as PSG!
While Farage has consistently proven himself to be a vote winner - you need only look at his record in European elections with the United Kingdom Independence Party (Ukip) and later with the Brexit Party - the big question for the pro-Union community in Northern Ireland remains; can a Farage-led Westminster Government be trusted with the Union?
Oh yes, Scottish and Welsh nationalists can kiss goodbye to any hopes of an independence referendum while Farage has the keys to 10 Downing Street, but given past experiences with supposedly Right-wing administrations in Downing Street, perhaps the weekend euphoria at the Reform Hard Right victory will soon evaporate in Ulster.
Let’s not forget the track record of supposedly Right-wing Tory administrations in their treatment of the pro-Union community in Northern Ireland. In 1972, when Ted Heath was PM, he was responsible for the proroguing of the original Unionist-dominated Stormont Parliament which had run Northern Ireland for decades. Okay, Heath was regarded ideologically as a ‘Tory Wet’, but his administration was still - albeit slightly - Right of centre.
But the real lesson for Ulster’s pro-Union community from a Right-wing Tory administration in Downing Street came in 1979 after the Westminster General Election when Maggie Thatcher swept to power.
Unionists were hoping for a ‘no punches pulled’ policy towards the terror campaign by republicans. Even then Ulster Unionist Party leader, the late Jim Molyneaux, would talk privately about his ‘special relationship’ with Thatcher.
That was all to come to a crashing halt in November 1985 when Thatcher signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement which gave Dublin its first real saying in the running of Northern Ireland since partition in the 1920s.
While Thatcher was viewed nationally as a tough-talking Right-wing PM, Northern Ireland Unionism felt totally betrayed by the 1985 Hillsborough accord. Even all the marching as part of the Ulster Says No campaign failed to scupper the so-called Dublin Diktat.
Northern Ireland’s position within the Union was perceived to be further diluted in December 1993 when then Tory PM John Major signed the Downing Street Declaration with Dublin, a document which laid the foundation stone to the disbanding of the RUC and its replacement with the PSNI.
Okay, so those PMs were Tories of various shades of the Right. But with Reform, we in Northern Ireland Unionism must never forget that many who have defected to Reform have come from the Conservative party.
During my time as Northern Political Correspondent with the Irish Daily Star, I had the opportunity to interview Farage during his time in Ukip. While it was more a pub conversation than a formal interview, Farage made the same Right-wing uttering I’d heard in my past interviews with Right-wing Unionists, such as Rev Martin Smyth, Molyneaux, Enoch Powell, and Rev Ian Paisley.
So what should Unionists be learning from Reform’s weekend victory? The answer is tactically simple. Unionist leaders must be holding talks as soon as possible with Farage and his team to draw up a policy which will be set in political concrete in the event of Farage becoming PM in the next few years.
It must be a clear manifesto commitment with Reform; not a Molyneaux-style ‘special relationship’ of private conversations in the corridors of Westminster.
The combined Unionist leadership must not sit on their hands and simply pray for a Farage victory in a couple of years. Now is the time for forward planning. Firstly, they must persuade Farage that while Reform has organised in Northern Ireland, the party should not contest elections and further fragment the pro-Union vote.
Unionism should also campaign for the reform (forgive the pun please!) of the Stormont institutions, making the posts of first and deputy first minster elected as in 1998 - by designation, not by the largest parties as was given away by the DUP in the 2006 St Andrews Agreement.
And there must be a guarantee by Reform that the current hounding of security forces veterans for Troubles-related incidents will be binned.
Likewise, the names of those suspected of committing some of the heinous terrorist atrocities during the Troubles, especially unsolved murders, bombings and attacks, should be revealed in the Commons using parliamentary privilege.
There should be no more wasting of millions of pounds on needless inquiries. Parliament should be the place for naming and shaming.
Reform caused a lot of controversy during the election campaign in Britain with talk of detention camps for illegal immigrants while they are being processed for deportation.
Perhaps if Reform comes to power, those camps could be established in Northern Ireland as a welcome jobs boost for the construction industry, prison service and supporting employment.
And if Reform is pledging to halt the small boat crisis, then the UK will require a much expanded Royal Navy to mount an iron blockade across the English Channel. Northern Ireland has an impressive record in ship building. Those contracts for the new much-needed ships must come to Ulster.
During the Troubles, Northern Ireland had a reputation of housing some of the worst terrorists of that era. Given that experience, the creation of the special camps for illegal migrants and illegal asylum seekers and the funding and jobs it would bring to Ulster should be top of a PM Farage’s agenda. But will Farage turn out to be another Thatcher? Only time will tell, but Unionism must tread carefully if it is to play the Reform card.
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| Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter John is a Director for Belfast’s Christian radio station, Sunshine 1049 FM. |
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