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ENGLISH UNIONIST · 15-05-2008, 11:45 AM

The long-awaited – and some would say long-overdue – retirement of "Papa Doc" (i.e., Democratic Unionist Party Leader, Ian Paisley Snr) has finally come.

All the time that “His Holiness” Rev. Dr. Ian Paisley was, until recently, saying "No" and "Never, Never, Never" either to sharing power with Irish Republicans in Northern Ireland and/or Dublin interference in the internal affairs of Northern Ireland – and, some would say, damaging Northern Ireland's standing in the wider world – Former Ulster Unionist Party Leader Jim (now Lord) Molyneaux was quietly strengthening the Union of the United Kingdom by securing (i). parity of representation for Northern Ireland (with England, Scotland and Wales) in the House of Commons; (ii). increased representation for Northern Ireland in the House of Lords; (iii). the creation of the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee and Northern Ireland Grand Committee; (iv). the adoption of a formula for restoring administrative responsibility to locally-elected representatives in Northern Ireland, which formed part of the winning party's General Election Manifesto, albeit the winner in question (Margaret Thatcher) tragically reneged on implementing the Molyneaux-formula within six weeks of being returned to office (in May 1979).

In addition, Jim Molyneaux helped to strengthen the Union by (i). building a broad-based unionist movement by delegating power to his parliamentary colleagues with first-hand experience of the subject for which they were responsible, e.g., education to Roy Beggs (a former vice-principal of a large high school); local government to the late Clifford Forsythe (a former councillor and assembly member); defence/security to Ken Maginnis (a former officer in the Ulster Defence Regiment); employment to the late Harold McCusker (a former production manager for a well-known manufacturing industry); agriculture to Willie Ross (a working farmer); EU affairs to John Taylor (a former MEP), etc, rather than concentrating power in himself which, it could be said, would have been neither democratic nor unionist; (ii). working with pressure groups and think-tanks (e.g., the Freedom Association and the Adam Smith Institute) to persuade them to lobby Government to legislate for Northern Ireland by amendable Bill (in place of non-amendable Orders-in-Council) in the United Kingdom Parliament at Westminster; (iii). resisting the temptation to enter into all-party talks and multi-party negotiations on the future governance of Northern Ireland (i.e., the Atkins Conference) when there was no need for talking as the prescription for devolving responsibility to locally-elected representatives in Northern Ireland was, and is, already there in Section 22 of the 1979 Conservative General Election Manifesto for all to see; (iv). declining an Honorary LLD from Queen's University Belfast after the QUB authorities disgracefully dropped the playing of the UK National Anthem at its graduation ceremonies, and knowing that a precondition of accepting such an honour would be that Former SDLP Leader John Hume would simultaneously receive an analogous degree (despite Hume being the man who brought Sinn Fein/IRA in from the cold and who evicted the rightful occupants of British Ulster from their own house in favour of unwanted unloved and unrepentant terrorists masquerading as “friendly” neighbours); and (v). above all else, steadfastly opposing home rule knowing that, to quote Sir Edward Carson, the founding father of Ulster Unionism, “Home Rule is Rome Rule” and that, as the late Enoch Powell warned, power-sharing devolved government is “a constitutional nonsense” and “an interim step towards the creation of an All-Ireland Republic”!

On a not-unrelated note I shall always remember attending Paisley’s Martyrs Memorial Free Presbyterian Church with friends from South Belfast and being told by one of the elders “Good to see you Christopher but, I’m afraid, if you’re looking for the Big Man he’s not here”, to which I replied “Really? I thought the Big Man was omnipresent! Forgive me, but I’m here to worship Our Triune God not a mere mortal called R.I.P. who, quite frankly, can R.I.P. if that is that how you perceive him! Almighty God is certainly omnipresent even if Rev. Ian Paisley is not”!

Ironically for Dr Paisley, it was his own Road-to-Damascus conversion to power-sharing devolution (in 2007) which led to his own downfall as, firstly, Moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster (which he established in 1951 in protest against ecumenical clergy in the Presbyterian Church of Ireland) and, secondly, Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (which he established in 1971, to replace the Protestant Unionist Party, in opposition to liberal-minded proponents of power-sharing in the Ulster Unionist Party).

Following Papa Doc’s earlier announcement of his intention to vacate the position of First Minister of Northern Ireland, no lesser rogues and crooks such as Gerry Adams, Tony Blair, Bill and Hilary Clinton, Martin McGuinness, et al, erupted in songs of praise for Dr Paisley’s leadership in an analogous fashion to which those self-same choristers of corruption, sleaze and terrorism, erupted in words of worship and admiration for Jim Molyneaux’s successor as Leader of the UUP (David Trimble) when Trimble signed the 1998 Good Friday Agreement (initially rejected by Paisley but now underwritten as the foundation stone of the 2006 St Andrews Agreement) which re-established power-sharing devolved government in Northern Ireland. One does not recall such widespread praise for Jim Molyneaux from the aforementioned “dignitaries” when he retired from the UUP Leadership in 1995 but, there again, unlike Paisley, Trimble and Esau before him, Lord Molyneaux did not sell – and has not subsequently sold – his birthright for a mess of pottage and, consequently, was forced to forego tributes from Adams, Blair, Clinton, etc! Whereas “the Big Man” (alias Dr Paisley) misled others into a mire of apostasy and despair, “the Wee Man” (alias Jim Molyneaux) quietly and unassumingly pointed the way to a better future for all of us.

I for one am proud to salute Lord Molyneaux as my much-loved mentor and the legacy he bequeathed to Protestant, Roman Catholic and other alike, if not to say I have known – and witnessed the rise and fall of – Papa Doc!

15-05-2008, 11:45 AM	#2 (permalink)
ENGLISH UNIONIST Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, United Kingdom Posts: 123 Party: UKIP	The long-awaited – and some would say long-overdue – retirement of "Papa Doc" (i.e., Democratic Unionist Party Leader, Ian Paisley Snr) has finally come. All the time that “His Holiness” Rev. Dr. Ian Paisley was, until recently, saying "No" and "Never, Never, Never" either to sharing power with Irish Republicans in Northern Ireland and/or Dublin interference in the internal affairs of Northern Ireland – and, some would say, damaging Northern Ireland's standing in the wider world – Former Ulster Unionist Party Leader Jim (now Lord) Molyneaux was quietly strengthening the Union of the United Kingdom by securing (i). parity of representation for Northern Ireland (with England, Scotland and Wales) in the House of Commons; (ii). increased representation for Northern Ireland in the House of Lords; (iii). the creation of the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee and Northern Ireland Grand Committee; (iv). the adoption of a formula for restoring administrative responsibility to locally-elected representatives in Northern Ireland, which formed part of the winning party's General Election Manifesto, albeit the winner in question (Margaret Thatcher) tragically reneged on implementing the Molyneaux-formula within six weeks of being returned to office (in May 1979). In addition, Jim Molyneaux helped to strengthen the Union by (i). building a broad-based unionist movement by delegating power to his parliamentary colleagues with first-hand experience of the subject for which they were responsible, e.g., education to Roy Beggs (a former vice-principal of a large high school); local government to the late Clifford Forsythe (a former councillor and assembly member); defence/security to Ken Maginnis (a former officer in the Ulster Defence Regiment); employment to the late Harold McCusker (a former production manager for a well-known manufacturing industry); agriculture to Willie Ross (a working farmer); EU affairs to John Taylor (a former MEP), etc, rather than concentrating power in himself which, it could be said, would have been neither democratic nor unionist; (ii). working with pressure groups and think-tanks (e.g., the Freedom Association and the Adam Smith Institute) to persuade them to lobby Government to legislate for Northern Ireland by amendable Bill (in place of non-amendable Orders-in-Council) in the United Kingdom Parliament at Westminster; (iii). resisting the temptation to enter into all-party talks and multi-party negotiations on the future governance of Northern Ireland (i.e., the Atkins Conference) when there was no need for talking as the prescription for devolving responsibility to locally-elected representatives in Northern Ireland was, and is, already there in Section 22 of the 1979 Conservative General Election Manifesto for all to see; (iv). declining an Honorary LLD from Queen's University Belfast after the QUB authorities disgracefully dropped the playing of the UK National Anthem at its graduation ceremonies, and knowing that a precondition of accepting such an honour would be that Former SDLP Leader John Hume would simultaneously receive an analogous degree (despite Hume being the man who brought Sinn Fein/IRA in from the cold and who evicted the rightful occupants of British Ulster from their own house in favour of unwanted unloved and unrepentant terrorists masquerading as “friendly” neighbours); and (v). above all else, steadfastly opposing home rule knowing that, to quote Sir Edward Carson, the founding father of Ulster Unionism, “Home Rule is Rome Rule” and that, as the late Enoch Powell warned, power-sharing devolved government is “a constitutional nonsense” and “an interim step towards the creation of an All-Ireland Republic”! On a not-unrelated note I shall always remember attending Paisley’s Martyrs Memorial Free Presbyterian Church with friends from South Belfast and being told by one of the elders “Good to see you Christopher but, I’m afraid, if you’re looking for the Big Man he’s not here”, to which I replied “Really? I thought the Big Man was omnipresent! Forgive me, but I’m here to worship Our Triune God not a mere mortal called R.I.P. who, quite frankly, can R.I.P. if that is that how you perceive him! Almighty God is certainly omnipresent even if Rev. Ian Paisley is not”! Ironically for Dr Paisley, it was his own Road-to-Damascus conversion to power-sharing devolution (in 2007) which led to his own downfall as, firstly, Moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster (which he established in 1951 in protest against ecumenical clergy in the Presbyterian Church of Ireland) and, secondly, Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (which he established in 1971, to replace the Protestant Unionist Party, in opposition to liberal-minded proponents of power-sharing in the Ulster Unionist Party). Following Papa Doc’s earlier announcement of his intention to vacate the position of First Minister of Northern Ireland, no lesser rogues and crooks such as Gerry Adams, Tony Blair, Bill and Hilary Clinton, Martin McGuinness, et al, erupted in songs of praise for Dr Paisley’s leadership in an analogous fashion to which those self-same choristers of corruption, sleaze and terrorism, erupted in words of worship and admiration for Jim Molyneaux’s successor as Leader of the UUP (David Trimble) when Trimble signed the 1998 Good Friday Agreement (initially rejected by Paisley but now underwritten as the foundation stone of the 2006 St Andrews Agreement) which re-established power-sharing devolved government in Northern Ireland. One does not recall such widespread praise for Jim Molyneaux from the aforementioned “dignitaries” when he retired from the UUP Leadership in 1995 but, there again, unlike Paisley, Trimble and Esau before him, Lord Molyneaux did not sell – and has not subsequently sold – his birthright for a mess of pottage and, consequently, was forced to forego tributes from Adams, Blair, Clinton, etc! Whereas “the Big Man” (alias Dr Paisley) misled others into a mire of apostasy and despair, “the Wee Man” (alias Jim Molyneaux) quietly and unassumingly pointed the way to a better future for all of us. I for one am proud to salute Lord Molyneaux as my much-loved mentor and the legacy he bequeathed to Protestant, Roman Catholic and other alike, if not to say I have known – and witnessed the rise and fall of – Papa Doc! __________________ THE UNION OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND, UNLIKE THE EUROPEAN UNION, DESERVES (AND NEEDS) TO BE MAINTAINED AND STRENGTHENED DAILY.