Browse content similar to 16/02/2017. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Less than a year ago, she was the triumphant leader | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
of unionism, taking 38 MLAs to Stormont. | :00:00. | :00:09. | |
But a tumultuous few months has seen Arlene Foster | :00:10. | :00:14. | |
battling allegations of corruption and incompetence. | :00:15. | :00:16. | |
On The View tonight, she responds to the criticisms | :00:17. | :00:19. | |
just two weeks ahead of the Assembly election. | :00:20. | :00:41. | |
Arlene Foster vows to see off her opponents in this election | :00:42. | :00:45. | |
saying she will continue to lead unionism on March 3rd. | :00:46. | :01:00. | |
I will accept the outcome of the public inquiry whatever it says. I | :01:01. | :01:08. | |
hope it will be a watershed moment and we will look back and say, could | :01:09. | :01:12. | |
we all have handled that differently? | :01:13. | :01:14. | |
Also tonight - Mike Nesbitt's plan to give his second preference | :01:15. | :01:16. | |
to a nationalist has led to a split in his party. | :01:17. | :01:22. | |
I'll be asking two former Stormont insiders if it was a generous | :01:23. | :01:25. | |
gesture others should follow or politically naive. | :01:26. | :01:33. | |
Plus, we take a look at the party political broadcast, American-style. | :01:34. | :01:38. | |
And with their very own style, in commentators' corner, | :01:39. | :01:41. | |
it's Professor Deirdre Heenan and Newton Emerson. | :01:42. | :01:49. | |
What a difference eight months can make. | :01:50. | :01:52. | |
Back in May last year it was a triumphant Arlene Foster | :01:53. | :01:56. | |
who led her team back into government as the leader | :01:57. | :02:00. | |
Fast forward to tonight and we're just two weeks away | :02:01. | :02:04. | |
from another election - this time with the DUP | :02:05. | :02:07. | |
at logger-heads with its former partners in government, | :02:08. | :02:11. | |
and rows over RHI, legacy and the Irish language leaving | :02:12. | :02:13. | |
little hope for a return to Stormont any time soon. | :02:14. | :02:16. | |
I asked Arlene Foster to explain how she might work | :02:17. | :02:19. | |
with Michelle O'Neill after the vote. | :02:20. | :02:28. | |
It is not for Michelle O'Neill or anybody else in Sinn Fein to tell | :02:29. | :02:35. | |
the people who should lead unionism. She just said she would not support | :02:36. | :02:41. | |
you being in the Executive. The Executive will decide who they want | :02:42. | :02:45. | |
as their leader in terms of unionism and it is up to the electorate, it | :02:46. | :02:52. | |
is not up to Michelle O'Neill. It depends what her mindset is. I am | :02:53. | :02:58. | |
not in the realms of blocking or breaking anybody. I'm trying to get | :02:59. | :03:05. | |
devolution back up and working because this unnecessary election | :03:06. | :03:11. | |
has been caused by Sinn Fein. Sinn Fein has consistently referred to | :03:12. | :03:15. | |
what it says is corruption at the heart of government as a reason for | :03:16. | :03:21. | |
the collapse of Stormont. It has said that throughout this campaign, | :03:22. | :03:26. | |
how do is the DUP respond? There are legal issues around that so I will | :03:27. | :03:31. | |
not get into that. In terms of the narrative they have blown up since | :03:32. | :03:36. | |
December, we have to look at what was happening eight months before | :03:37. | :03:41. | |
that. As you know, we were getting on with the business of government, | :03:42. | :03:46. | |
we had a draft programme for government. We had health reforms | :03:47. | :03:53. | |
under way. With respect, that is not an answer to my question, I am | :03:54. | :03:59. | |
asking about Sinn Fein professing to corruption, an allegation of | :04:00. | :04:01. | |
corruption to the heart of government. Let us look at what was | :04:02. | :04:08. | |
happening last year. We were getting on with government. It was only when | :04:09. | :04:14. | |
I was in China, dealing with issues on behalf of the Executive office | :04:15. | :04:20. | |
and I went on that trip with the Deputy first minister's agreement | :04:21. | :04:26. | |
because he had taken unwell before the trip. I went to China and when I | :04:27. | :04:32. | |
came back, we had to deal with the whole RHI and tobacco which had | :04:33. | :04:37. | |
grown up at that time. So it is quite wrong for Sinn Fein to try and | :04:38. | :04:44. | |
rewrite what has been happening. -- the whole RHI crisis. Of course it | :04:45. | :04:50. | |
is a political characterisation. That is what has been happening | :04:51. | :04:55. | |
since then. In the last election campaign, the DUP media at all about | :04:56. | :05:00. | |
you, your vision. Let us talk about you eight months on. Your opponents | :05:01. | :05:05. | |
say you are not the safe pair of hands they thought you were. This is | :05:06. | :05:11. | |
a different Arlene Foster going before the electorate? It is not, | :05:12. | :05:16. | |
that is the irony. It is the same Arlene Foster who stood on that | :05:17. | :05:20. | |
platform last year. Different circumstances? Different | :05:21. | :05:26. | |
circumstances, that is correct but not a different Arlene Foster. It is | :05:27. | :05:31. | |
the same Arlene Foster who's asking for support and asking people to | :05:32. | :05:35. | |
look at my record in government over ten years and not listen to the | :05:36. | :05:41. | |
political smears and allegations, rumours, just because you say | :05:42. | :05:44. | |
something more than once does not make it true. That is why I am | :05:45. | :05:50. | |
pleased the public inquiry has been set up. Instead of having the drip | :05:51. | :05:56. | |
effect over the last period of time, we will actually get the truth and | :05:57. | :06:02. | |
justice. I want to ask about something, one of the most glaring | :06:03. | :06:07. | |
examples of differences between the DUP, yourself and Sinn Fein is | :06:08. | :06:15. | |
legacy cases. The Sinn Fein leader is attending at commemoration at | :06:16. | :06:21. | |
Clonoe for IRA members shot by the SAS, can you see any way of bridging | :06:22. | :06:25. | |
the gap between your parties when you are all so divided on such an | :06:26. | :06:31. | |
important and sensitive issue? I think we have made progress on | :06:32. | :06:38. | |
legacy issues. We have had fresh start talks. We have made progress | :06:39. | :06:43. | |
about finding the infrastructure of dealing with the past. My position | :06:44. | :06:48. | |
is clear, there can be no equivalence between terrorism and | :06:49. | :06:51. | |
those people who stood between those of us in society who were living | :06:52. | :06:58. | |
through it, the security forces, who were protecting people and | :06:59. | :07:00. | |
terrorists who were going out to murder people. It is what it is. No | :07:01. | :07:13. | |
surprise about her attending that event. I am not surprised that | :07:14. | :07:20. | |
unfortunately she has decided to commemorate and indeed celebrate | :07:21. | :07:24. | |
four IRA men... You have no idea that she is celebrating. Well having | :07:25. | :07:29. | |
those commemorations, we have a good idea. Let us talk about the RHI | :07:30. | :07:36. | |
scandal after fresh revelations today. It was a botched scheme and | :07:37. | :07:41. | |
it happened on your watch. I am pleased we now have a situation | :07:42. | :07:45. | |
where that is a public inquiry set up so we can get to the truth of | :07:46. | :07:52. | |
everything that happened. I absolutely acknowledge their | :07:53. | :07:55. | |
frustrations. I acknowledge the anger in the community about the RHI | :07:56. | :07:59. | |
scheme. I acknowledge it because I shared it. I was the minister at the | :08:00. | :08:03. | |
time so you can imagine how frustrated I am that this has come | :08:04. | :08:09. | |
to the fore. Your critics say your ministerial oversight of the scheme | :08:10. | :08:14. | |
was incompetent. You were asked to account for your actions in | :08:15. | :08:17. | |
monitoring the scheme and you pointed the finger at your civil | :08:18. | :08:21. | |
servants. All of that will come out of the public inquiry. That is what | :08:22. | :08:27. | |
you did, we already know this. It will all come out in the public | :08:28. | :08:33. | |
inquiry and I am content. I hope others will accept the outcome of | :08:34. | :08:38. | |
the public inquiry. To date we have had smears and allegations. Hysteria | :08:39. | :08:42. | |
are almost in relation to the issue and I am pleased the public inquiry | :08:43. | :08:47. | |
will get to the truth of the matter. There was a platform piece in the | :08:48. | :08:52. | |
Irish News from you last week, that I am hostile to their interests of | :08:53. | :08:57. | |
national as hundreds of people in Northern Ireland. You do concede you | :08:58. | :09:02. | |
have made mistakes on this issue? What were the mistakes? I concede | :09:03. | :09:08. | |
that in the heightened tension that has happened since December there | :09:09. | :09:11. | |
has been a lot of harsh things said about me. Possibly I have to take my | :09:12. | :09:17. | |
share of the blame in reacting to that. I hope what will happen after | :09:18. | :09:25. | |
the election, hopefully we will all be back in a devolved | :09:26. | :09:30. | |
administration, I genuinely hope that it will be a watershed moment | :09:31. | :09:34. | |
and we will look back and say, could we all have handled that | :09:35. | :09:38. | |
differently? We have had difficulties in the past in | :09:39. | :09:44. | |
devolution. We had the flags protest. We had the murder of a man | :09:45. | :09:49. | |
in the East Belfast when the IRA were implicated but we work through | :09:50. | :09:53. | |
all of that. On this occasion, Sinn Fein decided we would not work | :09:54. | :09:57. | |
through it but they would pull the plug and throws into an unnecessary | :09:58. | :10:03. | |
election. You had just turned that around and turned it into a way of | :10:04. | :10:08. | |
criticising Sinn Fein, I am asking you to analyse what you said about | :10:09. | :10:12. | |
conceding that you made mistakes and tell me what the mistakes were. Do | :10:13. | :10:17. | |
you know regret talking about feeding the Sinn Fein crocodile last | :10:18. | :10:23. | |
week? That is not a laughing matter. It is Sinn Fein for goodness sake. | :10:24. | :10:29. | |
We're in an election. Can I tell you some of the things said about me in | :10:30. | :10:36. | |
this election. I am interviewing you. Last week I spoke to Michelle | :10:37. | :10:42. | |
O'Neill. She sat in that seat and said it was wrong, she had | :10:43. | :10:47. | |
admonished her colleagues for talking about giving you manners. | :10:48. | :10:53. | |
Did she also admonished her party president when he said he was going | :10:54. | :10:57. | |
to break unionists and use equality to do that? When did he do that? Two | :10:58. | :11:04. | |
years ago. Let us talk about the present. We want to talk about the | :11:05. | :11:10. | |
current issues relevant to this campaign. Do you regret the comments | :11:11. | :11:19. | |
you made about feeding the Sinn Fein crocodile? Now, it was in the | :11:20. | :11:27. | |
context. You just said talking about looking back and consider the | :11:28. | :11:30. | |
dialogue and I ask you if it was wrong, you cannot have it both ways. | :11:31. | :11:35. | |
Sinn Fein have used it now there's a joke. They are not offended by it. | :11:36. | :11:44. | |
How would you know? They are now using it as T-shirts with see you | :11:45. | :11:48. | |
later alligator. You have also said there will never be an Irish | :11:49. | :11:54. | |
language act on your watch. That is why your opponents have come to the | :11:55. | :11:59. | |
conclusion you are hostile to people who celebrate their sense of Irish? | :12:00. | :12:05. | |
Not at all. That is why I decided to do the article in the news to debunk | :12:06. | :12:12. | |
that. I am against an Irish language act because of the cost of it. Tens | :12:13. | :12:18. | |
of millions of pounds... You do not know the cost? Certainly Sinn Fein | :12:19. | :12:26. | |
have not costed it. Have you costed at? We have looked to say how much | :12:27. | :12:31. | |
cause the Republic of Ireland government and it is tens of | :12:32. | :12:35. | |
millions of every year. How many tens? So it is located if it is 20 | :12:36. | :12:44. | |
million but not more? I am not saying, is it 20 or 90 million? They | :12:45. | :12:52. | |
spend 20 or 30 million on the Irish language. That is only part of it. | :12:53. | :12:57. | |
Secondly we would be using the Irish language in an equal weight to | :12:58. | :13:03. | |
English. Thirdly, if you are applying to this Civil Service and | :13:04. | :13:06. | |
had the Irish language you would have affirmative action. This should | :13:07. | :13:09. | |
be debated on the floor of the Assembly. We are going into | :13:10. | :13:15. | |
negotiations now, that is what they're looking for so it is | :13:16. | :13:19. | |
important the public now. I want to go back to the issue of Irishness | :13:20. | :13:24. | |
and whether or not you're highly -- hostile to the Irish language. You | :13:25. | :13:31. | |
had an opportunity to send a clear message about that last summer. You | :13:32. | :13:39. | |
attended and Irish football games together. He went to both games and | :13:40. | :13:44. | |
you refuse to attend the Republic match, wide? Because it is the | :13:45. | :13:48. | |
Republic of Ireland and I am a representative of Northern Ireland. | :13:49. | :13:52. | |
I was supporting and Northern Ireland team. You could have made a | :13:53. | :13:59. | |
gesture by going along? This is not about gesture politics. I am | :14:00. | :14:03. | |
supporting the Northern Ireland team. I am passionate about the | :14:04. | :14:07. | |
Northern Ireland football team and I want them to succeed. If you're | :14:08. | :14:13. | |
seriously saying that the administration has collapsed because | :14:14. | :14:17. | |
I did not go to a Republic of Ireland match? I did not say that | :14:18. | :14:25. | |
for a second. It is facile in the extreme. | :14:26. | :14:29. | |
And made it clear he is not the Northern Ireland football team's | :14:30. | :14:37. | |
fans, and that he will be more of it fan of the Republic of Ireland. | :14:38. | :14:40. | |
But he saw the political capital to be made out of going to both games. | :14:41. | :14:45. | |
You did not reciprocate. But I do not do political capital. So was it | :14:46. | :14:49. | |
gesture politics when he should hand the Queen? You would have to ask | :14:50. | :14:55. | |
him. It is of no value that he did that? That is a matter for him. You | :14:56. | :14:59. | |
must have a view on whether Martin McGuinness as an arch republican was | :15:00. | :15:03. | |
prepared to shake hands, take tea, sit down with the Queen and number | :15:04. | :15:08. | |
of occasions. You don't believe that is politically significant? Or | :15:09. | :15:13. | |
indeed, if she chose to do that. Which she did. So was a good gesture | :15:14. | :15:17. | |
for Herbert valueless as far as he is concerned? No, now you are | :15:18. | :15:22. | |
putting words into my mouth. I'm not into gesture politics. I am into | :15:23. | :15:24. | |
real politics. So that was real politics? | :15:25. | :15:29. | |
You going to a football match would not have been? | :15:30. | :15:31. | |
No, because I fundamentally believe in the Northern Ireland team and won | :15:32. | :15:35. | |
them to succeed. You have confirmed today, I think, | :15:36. | :15:39. | |
your party received a large payments advertise a pro Brexit stands | :15:40. | :15:42. | |
outside Northern Ireland across Britain, during a referendum | :15:43. | :15:46. | |
campaign. Whether that money come from? Of course, as you know, we | :15:47. | :15:50. | |
played a key role in relation to the Brexit campaign, and we registered | :15:51. | :15:54. | |
as a party in the Leave campaign, because we felt very passionately | :15:55. | :15:58. | |
about it. As a result, we played our role nationally, and received a | :15:59. | :16:01. | |
donation. How much was the donation? | :16:02. | :16:07. | |
It has been properly put into the Electoral Commission. How much was | :16:08. | :16:13. | |
it? There is, as you know, rules around this. | :16:14. | :16:17. | |
I am asking how much it was. We have stuck with it. I don't have | :16:18. | :16:20. | |
the figure here, so I don't know how much. You must have some idea. I | :16:21. | :16:25. | |
don't. There was speculation it could have been in the region of | :16:26. | :16:29. | |
?250,000. I don't have the figures in front of me. It is hard to | :16:30. | :16:32. | |
believe you have received a large amount of money as part of the | :16:33. | :16:35. | |
Brexit campaign and you have no idea. I'm not saying I have no idea. | :16:36. | :16:40. | |
If you have an idea, how much was it? I'm telling you, it was probably | :16:41. | :16:43. | |
accounted for. I don't doubt that. How much did you spend? I have no | :16:44. | :16:49. | |
idea. No idea how much you spend? It was last June. You're asking me to | :16:50. | :16:54. | |
go back over Electoral Commission returns from last June. I am in the | :16:55. | :16:58. | |
middle of an election. You have no idea how much you spend? I haven't. | :16:59. | :17:02. | |
You must know where the money came from Ben? -- then? Yes, I do, and it | :17:03. | :17:12. | |
has been told to the Electoral Commission. Why is it a secret? It | :17:13. | :17:15. | |
is not a secret. We have done what we should have done. There are rules | :17:16. | :17:19. | |
particular to Northern Ireland, and if we are to talk about those rules, | :17:20. | :17:24. | |
we want to see all the donations open and accounted for, including | :17:25. | :17:27. | |
all the money coming from America. So you're not about to say how much | :17:28. | :17:31. | |
that was where it came from? No, because under the current rules, we | :17:32. | :17:34. | |
have accounted for that and the proper fashion, and... It will be | :17:35. | :17:41. | |
made public across the world, but not here in Northern Ireland? It | :17:42. | :17:44. | |
will be accounted for under the rules as they currently stand. We as | :17:45. | :17:48. | |
taxpayers in Northern Ireland would know where that money came from. We | :17:49. | :17:53. | |
have indicated to the Secretary of State we want to see those rules | :17:54. | :17:56. | |
changed. What does that say about openness and transparency? Well, | :17:57. | :17:59. | |
what I have just that, we want to be open and transparent. We received | :18:00. | :18:06. | |
that money under the rules of currently constituted. You have | :18:07. | :18:10. | |
conceded you don't expect to return to a reduced assembly with a 38 MLAs | :18:11. | :18:17. | |
you had last time, though you are running 38 candidates. How many you | :18:18. | :18:19. | |
think you will secure? We are fighting this election to win, and | :18:20. | :18:25. | |
you will recall, last year, you told me we would not go back with 38 and | :18:26. | :18:29. | |
we did. I asked you if you would go back with 38! I watched the | :18:30. | :18:33. | |
interview, but I did not say you would not go back with 38. You, | :18:34. | :18:38. | |
interestingly, would not say you would go back with 38 either. What | :18:39. | :18:42. | |
you want to do is win this election. Bat what we want to. | :18:43. | :18:48. | |
What is your advice about how DV voters should transfer their vote on | :18:49. | :18:54. | |
after voting for DUP? Should their second preference before the Ulster | :18:55. | :18:57. | |
Unionist Party matter it should clearly be for Unionists, because | :18:58. | :19:00. | |
this election will be very close, and I want to maximise the number of | :19:01. | :19:03. | |
Unionists returned to Stormont. Why do I say that? For this reason, | :19:04. | :19:09. | |
because if there are a majority of nationalist returns to Stormont, we | :19:10. | :19:11. | |
could find ourselves in the situation where nationalists use | :19:12. | :19:17. | |
that to push for a border poll, and that would cause great instability | :19:18. | :19:20. | |
and divisiveness like we have never seen before in terms of Brexit, | :19:21. | :19:23. | |
which was supposed to be the most divisive thing that had happened to | :19:24. | :19:28. | |
us. That's why I think it is wrong for Mike Nesbitt to advocate | :19:29. | :19:32. | |
transferring to nationalise, because it may lead us into a very difficult | :19:33. | :19:35. | |
position. Arlene Foster, talking to me earlier | :19:36. | :19:36. | |
this evening. Now, in two weeks' time we'll be | :19:37. | :19:42. | |
going to the polls with the option of giving multiple preferences right | :19:43. | :19:46. | |
down the ballot paper. This week, though, Mike Nesbitt | :19:47. | :19:48. | |
found himself at odds with many of his own party | :19:49. | :19:50. | |
when he revealed on Sunday Politics he would be giving an SDLP candidate | :19:51. | :19:53. | |
second preference rather than giving That's a very significant thing | :19:54. | :20:07. | |
three Unionist leaders say, and possibly without precedent in the | :20:08. | :20:10. | |
history of Northern Ireland. -- for a Unionist leader to say. | :20:11. | :20:29. | |
So just how unusual - or not - is voting outside | :20:30. | :20:31. | |
With me is former MLA John McCallister and the one-time | :20:32. | :20:36. | |
SDLP special advisor Michael McKernan. | :20:37. | :20:43. | |
Welcome to you both, and thank you for joining us tonight. First of | :20:44. | :20:46. | |
all, John. In 2015 the UUP had an electoral | :20:47. | :20:47. | |
pact with the DUP, now Mike Nesbitt is saying don't necessarily | :20:48. | :20:50. | |
transfer to unionists. It is, and I except there are two | :20:51. | :21:07. | |
different electoral systems, and I was critical, in fact. I resigned | :21:08. | :21:11. | |
from the Ulster Unionist Party because of an electoral pact, and | :21:12. | :21:16. | |
that is why disagreed with them. If you are serious about removing and | :21:17. | :21:19. | |
changing the government at Stormont, then of course, you should vote to | :21:20. | :21:24. | |
transfer to opposition parties. That is the logic. The problem might but | :21:25. | :21:30. | |
intake of that them -- the problem might got into is that the message | :21:31. | :21:36. | |
is so mixed in west Belfast, he was voting for itself two years ago and | :21:37. | :21:39. | |
is now voting for Ulster Unionist Party and transferring to the SDLP. | :21:40. | :21:42. | |
I would love to see more people doing it, but to do it in the | :21:43. | :21:48. | |
context of not even, well, speaking to the SDLP leader before you | :21:49. | :21:51. | |
announced it, or indeed, speaking to member 's of your own party. | :21:52. | :21:55. | |
We don't know what happened beforehand, of course, but it is the | :21:56. | :21:58. | |
case that he said what he said, and he said this what I am doing, and | :21:59. | :22:02. | |
not necessarily saying everyone else should do it, but quite a few of his | :22:03. | :22:05. | |
candidates came out very quickly and said, we are not recommending that. | :22:06. | :22:09. | |
It is very difficult as a party leader to separate the two, when you | :22:10. | :22:16. | |
say in a political interview, as you were doing on Sunday Politics, you | :22:17. | :22:23. | |
know, you cannot separate out in a throwaway line, this is my personal | :22:24. | :22:26. | |
view. It just doesn't work like that. The message from a few years | :22:27. | :22:30. | |
ago as, to do this and do what is logical, and I mean, every time I | :22:31. | :22:36. | |
debated my opposition bill at the time, I mentioned the two key things | :22:37. | :22:40. | |
in the opposition, scrutinising the government and providing an | :22:41. | :22:49. | |
alternative. But you need to work on that throughout a period of years, | :22:50. | :22:54. | |
but they haven't had a long period in opposition. That message is just | :22:55. | :22:57. | |
too mixed and too confusing for voters not having your own party on | :22:58. | :23:01. | |
board. It makes it look even more confused than it needed to be. | :23:02. | :23:06. | |
An economist has said on the record today that he did not know Mike | :23:07. | :23:09. | |
Nesbitt was going to say what he said, and he did not reciprocate. He | :23:10. | :23:12. | |
did not say that he would do the same thing that Mike Nesbitt said he | :23:13. | :23:18. | |
would do in east Belfast. I know you are not an SDLP member any more, but | :23:19. | :23:22. | |
what do you think members will have made of what was said on Sunday? | :23:23. | :23:27. | |
Firstly, I think Mike has been quite brave, given that candidates are | :23:28. | :23:31. | |
never more jittery than at election time, and they have clearly got the | :23:32. | :23:35. | |
jitters in that party. His party members might not have | :23:36. | :23:38. | |
seen it as brave. But the shock, horror is exaggerated | :23:39. | :23:42. | |
to me. Unionists have voted for nationalists before. There was | :23:43. | :23:45. | |
tactical voting in Westminster elections, and regularly that has | :23:46. | :23:49. | |
happened with Unionist vote. So that is number one. There should not be | :23:50. | :23:54. | |
that surprised with the Unionist vote. | :23:55. | :23:57. | |
And in the PR at election, people would say that benefits West | :23:58. | :24:01. | |
Belfast? Yes, and that is a critical point. | :24:02. | :24:04. | |
I will give Mike the benefit of the doubt, saying that while he knew he | :24:05. | :24:08. | |
would probably create a media storm, he has actually move the issue front | :24:09. | :24:13. | |
and centre, and in his election in ambition, which is nothing short of | :24:14. | :24:16. | |
regime change, he is saying, if you want regime change, you have to vote | :24:17. | :24:20. | |
for the Ulster Unionist Party one rid of the DLP, and vice versa if | :24:21. | :24:25. | |
you want rid of Sinn Fein. The difficulty is with that, while he | :24:26. | :24:31. | |
says vote Mike, get Colin and vice versa, I think it is the case that | :24:32. | :24:34. | |
eight of his high-profile candidates have come out and said, don't do | :24:35. | :24:38. | |
that. What does that say about the message? | :24:39. | :24:42. | |
It is OK. They are looking at their local situation, and Danny Kennedy, | :24:43. | :24:47. | |
for example, needs to hoover up votes from TUV, Ukip, etc, to get | :24:48. | :24:54. | |
him through in Derry- Armagh. People are looking after themselves and | :24:55. | :24:58. | |
should not get so excited. You might even argue it is illogical. We have | :24:59. | :25:02. | |
just heard Arlene Foster say she is calling on all DUP people to | :25:03. | :25:06. | |
transfer to the Ulster Unionist Party by other people who want to | :25:07. | :25:09. | |
put her out of business, yet he is calling for transfers to them. There | :25:10. | :25:13. | |
is a logical round. That is a good way of putting it. | :25:14. | :25:17. | |
And I suspect there will be people at home who are perhaps baffled or | :25:18. | :25:21. | |
bamboozled by precisely what message they are being given by different | :25:22. | :25:24. | |
politicians on any given day of the week. It is very complicated, isn't | :25:25. | :25:28. | |
it? It becomes that kind of complicated | :25:29. | :25:32. | |
when you change the electoral system and then you change the message. If | :25:33. | :25:41. | |
you are looking to use, in that phrase, regime change, the logical | :25:42. | :25:43. | |
outcome of that is voting for the opposition parties. Personally, I | :25:44. | :25:47. | |
would have preferred to sea the alliance brought into that as well, | :25:48. | :25:52. | |
and going even further down that road. The point that Arlene Foster | :25:53. | :25:58. | |
was making in your interview, about voting for Unionists, and it being | :25:59. | :26:03. | |
slightly illogical, that is trying to bring the election back to not | :26:04. | :26:07. | |
how Northern Ireland works or making Northern Ireland or the assembly | :26:08. | :26:11. | |
work, but bringing it back this inflated border poll, a tribal | :26:12. | :26:15. | |
headcount. I would like to see us normalising and continuing. My | :26:16. | :26:19. | |
criticism of anything to do with Mike is he really needs to warm up | :26:20. | :26:24. | |
his own party to this before just announcing it in the middle of the | :26:25. | :26:27. | |
heat of an election campaign. I think that is the danger that he set | :26:28. | :26:31. | |
himself on Sunday. And it is the case that, and history | :26:32. | :26:36. | |
tells us very clearly, it is very difficult to make out... To break | :26:37. | :26:42. | |
Gaza tribal politics. You hear a lot of people saying social media is | :26:43. | :26:45. | |
bouncing with people talking about the need to break away from the | :26:46. | :26:51. | |
orange and green divide, and yet, arguably, our electoral system | :26:52. | :26:55. | |
encourages it? Well, maybe not this time. We have had our biggest | :26:56. | :26:59. | |
turnouts in the times when people have had most hope and have had more | :27:00. | :27:03. | |
optimism, and the future looked better. We have had a gradual | :27:04. | :27:08. | |
decline in turn out as people have become more cynical and | :27:09. | :27:10. | |
disappointed, so maybe this occasion, it feels the union and the | :27:11. | :27:14. | |
SDLP can excite people about this potential change and a new | :27:15. | :27:18. | |
government and the new approach and people who want to work together, if | :27:19. | :27:21. | |
they can commit people of that, they might get a higher vote share. | :27:22. | :27:29. | |
You have looked at some of the numbers, but Phillips actually | :27:30. | :27:31. | |
benefited from Unionist transfers in the past? | :27:32. | :27:34. | |
Yes, very sadly, he was left with a Sinn Fein candidate when he was 400 | :27:35. | :27:38. | |
behind. -- very simply. The Ulster Unionist Party just been elected had | :27:39. | :27:44. | |
920 votes to distribute of her surplus. Richie needed half of them, | :27:45. | :27:48. | |
but got all of them. He got 900. So there is a degree of | :27:49. | :27:50. | |
sophistication on the ground? Yes, I think he would benefit again. | :27:51. | :27:57. | |
Someone else got elected under his own steam in west Belfast last time, | :27:58. | :28:01. | |
but with the move devices, that is a tough ask for him, and he would be | :28:02. | :28:05. | |
dependent on Unionist transfers to get in. | :28:06. | :28:07. | |
It is confusing and bamboozling, but that sophistication is there a | :28:08. | :28:10. | |
grassroots level, and people know what they want to do? They do. The | :28:11. | :28:16. | |
other important thing on that is actually getting turnout, getting | :28:17. | :28:19. | |
people excited, because breaking through, people have to know it is | :28:20. | :28:21. | |
not enough to tweak your support. You actually have to go to a polling | :28:22. | :28:26. | |
station. Just one more point, I think the | :28:27. | :28:29. | |
opposition parties have been gifted with an opportunity in the fact that | :28:30. | :28:36. | |
Arlene Foster has been ruled out as First Minister. That means there is | :28:37. | :28:39. | |
a hiatus least the first six months of the enquiry. I don't see the | :28:40. | :28:42. | |
judge being pushed around. I would say that is a year, so Colum | :28:43. | :28:47. | |
Eastwood will be quick to jump on that and say, vote for Ireland, you | :28:48. | :28:49. | |
vote for Michelle. The opposition could have done with | :28:50. | :28:56. | |
more time, but that is politics. Gentlemen, thank you very much. | :28:57. | :28:59. | |
Thank you John McCallister and Michael McKernan. | :29:00. | :29:01. | |
Now let's get some thoughts from our commentary team | :29:02. | :29:03. | |
Professor Deirdre Heenan and Newton Emerson. | :29:04. | :29:06. | |
Good evening. Let us talk about that Arlene Foster interview. What did | :29:07. | :29:15. | |
you make of it? Of all the terrible aspects of that interview, the one | :29:16. | :29:20. | |
that jumped up and need was the figure for the cost of Irish | :29:21. | :29:27. | |
language in the south. Her argument boils down to cost but she could not | :29:28. | :29:31. | |
remember the one number that it boils down to. She said tens of | :29:32. | :29:38. | |
million. She should know an exact figure. She only has one figure to | :29:39. | :29:44. | |
remember. She could then launch into a baggage of details but she could | :29:45. | :29:49. | |
not remember any factual details, that is her leadership. She cannot | :29:50. | :29:53. | |
offer a generous vision, what is she bringing apart from a disaster she | :29:54. | :30:03. | |
cannot get out of. Her supporters will differ. I thought it was a | :30:04. | :30:05. | |
shocker, she do it yourself no favours. There were lots of | :30:06. | :30:09. | |
inconsistencies. She said I do not do jester politics. But I would have | :30:10. | :30:17. | |
gone to IgE team. But as far as I know she does not support one. What | :30:18. | :30:22. | |
mistakes did you make a? It is all the fault of Sinn Fein. She went on | :30:23. | :30:29. | |
to list the mistakes they had made. No apology for a comment about | :30:30. | :30:35. | |
feeding the Sinn Fein crocodile. Her response was bizarre. What does that | :30:36. | :30:40. | |
mean? Sinn Fein was her partner in government. I do not think it is | :30:41. | :30:47. | |
acceptable. Most people thought it was offensive. Is she saying she | :30:48. | :30:51. | |
could not accept that people thought that kind of language was not | :30:52. | :30:58. | |
offensive? Really, the inconsistency, saying one thing and | :30:59. | :31:02. | |
seeing something else later on. She seemed very unsure of herself. I | :31:03. | :31:06. | |
thought there were signs that she had decided to bring across the | :31:07. | :31:12. | |
different attitude but she could not hold it together. It is too much to | :31:13. | :31:16. | |
expect someone to change their personality in the course of the | :31:17. | :31:21. | |
campaign. If you remember when Peter Robinson suffered a similar disaster | :31:22. | :31:26. | |
in 2010, he appeared to be genuinely humbled at least for a while but | :31:27. | :31:32. | |
there is no sign of this with Arlene Foster. She seems to be struggling | :31:33. | :31:37. | |
to find the right tone. She swings around all over the place. She tries | :31:38. | :31:43. | |
to be jokey and Charney, it comes across as someone who's not sure | :31:44. | :31:50. | |
where she should be. What did you make of her decision not to go to | :31:51. | :31:54. | |
the Republic of Ireland match in France last summer? It was | :31:55. | :32:00. | |
ridiculous. It would've been so easy to find words alone that even if she | :32:01. | :32:05. | |
did not feel she was able to go, she could have paid tribute to Martin | :32:06. | :32:09. | |
McGuinness for finding the time to do so when you mentioned their North | :32:10. | :32:12. | |
of Ireland team she could have mentioned her local wine but the | :32:13. | :32:18. | |
whole manner of her approach was dismissive and contemptuous. I am | :32:19. | :32:21. | |
sure the Northern Ireland team herself will not be thanking her for | :32:22. | :32:28. | |
that. Again, we cannot be sure about that, maybe we will hear from | :32:29. | :32:32. | |
individuals who have their view on that. I just want to ask about the | :32:33. | :32:42. | |
breaking story today about political donations and we know now, as she | :32:43. | :32:47. | |
confirmed, a substantial donation was made by an organisation in | :32:48. | :32:51. | |
England to support the DUP Brexit campaign but we do not know what the | :32:52. | :32:56. | |
organisation was or how much the amount paid was? The attitude was | :32:57. | :33:03. | |
you expect me to know figures? There are number of key figures that you | :33:04. | :33:06. | |
should know and instead of trying to refer back to something that | :33:07. | :33:10. | |
happened years ago, those figures should be in the public domain. She | :33:11. | :33:15. | |
is correct when she talks about the rules and what they are. Equally, | :33:16. | :33:23. | |
you do not have to. And then comes across as very shifty. I know | :33:24. | :33:28. | |
there's that I am not going to tell you, why should I? The point is she | :33:29. | :33:34. | |
does not have to make that public. She has reported it to the electric | :33:35. | :33:38. | |
commission and that is all that is required. That organisation in | :33:39. | :33:43. | |
England could have made that a nation and declared openly over | :33:44. | :33:48. | |
there but she needs to get a better explanation over a year. She does | :33:49. | :33:54. | |
not have to come across saying, we want to work together. She's clearly | :33:55. | :33:57. | |
working towards the hardline. Thank you, we have to leave it there. | :33:58. | :34:02. | |
That's it from The View for this week. | :34:03. | :34:04. | |
No Sunday Politics this weekend but we will be back next Thursday | :34:05. | :34:07. | |
with a special outside broadcast from Ulster University. | :34:08. | :34:09. | |
We've seen some interesting party political broadcasts this campaign. | :34:10. | :34:11. | |
But they're nothing compared to those in the United States. | :34:12. | :34:14. | |
And across the pond things have certainly changed over the years. | :34:15. | :34:16. | |
It's morning again in America and under the leadership of President | :34:17. | :34:43. | |
Regan, our country is stronger and better. Why would we want to return | :34:44. | :34:49. | |
to where we were. $1 million spent to become the mayor of Minneapolis, | :34:50. | :34:56. | |
a $100,000 a year. I will not take money from developers or the | :34:57. | :35:02. | |
political angle, I will not go to the strip clubs anymore. | :35:03. | :35:05. | |
To be in the Lords, you have to be punctual... | :35:06. | :35:07. | |
literally have to slam the door in somebody's face. | :35:08. | :35:13. |