Now that 3 Conservative nominees have withdrawn from the UCUNF candidate selection race, it is questionable whether there is anything of substance left in the so-called electoral pact between the Conservative Party and the UUP.
Sir Reg, on this morning’s Politics Show on BBC NI, made light of the fact that certain individuals were frustrated with slowness of progress. He also repeated that his Party had an agreement with the Conservatives – like it was some type of legally enforceable contract.
But Sir Reg simply doesn’t get it. This pact is in a near-death crisis.
The problem is not just that Conservative nominees are withdrawing from the process – due, in no small part, to the fact that the UUP has been dragging its heels over candidate selection. It’s also the case that the nominees, and a large cohort of local Conservative membership, are losing confidence in the Shadow Secretary of State and his advisers following last week’s Unionist pact talks with the UUP and DUP.
Moreover, as David McNarry highlighted on this morning’s Politics Show, the UUP is determined to retain North Down. However, how can it possibly do so when the incumbent MP shows such hostility to the Conservative Party and the leadership of her own Party?
I do hope that Ian Parsley does not withdraw from the process of candidate selection. Nothing will serve the Conservative interest more than a Conservative nominee for North Down being put up against the incumbent MP. If she is selected and makes clear that she will not run as a Conservative & Unionist candidate then Parsley should be handed the canditature. That will be fun to watch.
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