Browse content similar to 04/07/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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On The View tonight: Allegations of political interference and | :00:23. | :00:27. | |
misleading MLAs. As the fall-out continues over the BBC Spotlight | :00:27. | :00:30. | |
investigation into Red Sky and the Housing Executive - is there a case | :00:30. | :00:34. | |
to answer? Not according to the Social Development Minister, who's | :00:34. | :00:39. | |
with me in the studio. We'll also hear from members of the committee | :00:39. | :00:42. | |
which is to launch an inquiry into the allegations. | :00:42. | :00:49. | |
Also on the programme tonight: As the political year draws to a close, | :00:49. | :00:52. | |
we honour the cream of our political class with The View's | :00:52. | :00:56. | |
inaugural awards. And you can, of course, give us | :00:56. | :01:06. | |
:01:06. | :01:07. | ||
your thoughts and follow the A huge fishing expedition with not | :01:07. | :01:10. | |
much of a catch at the end of it - or potentially the most serious | :01:10. | :01:13. | |
political scandal since the Assembly came into operation in | :01:13. | :01:19. | |
1998. Contrasting views from two MLAs. The first from the Social | :01:19. | :01:22. | |
Development Minister, Nelson McCausland. The second from the | :01:22. | :01:26. | |
Chair of his departmental committee, Alex Maskey. Both were prompted by | :01:26. | :01:28. | |
last night's BBC Northern Ireland's Spotlight investigation which | :01:28. | :01:30. | |
alleged political interference in the running of the Housing | :01:30. | :01:35. | |
Executive. Those claims have been strongly denied by Mr McCausland, | :01:35. | :01:45. | |
:01:45. | :01:49. | ||
who joins me tonight. Woken to the programme. Good evening. | :01:49. | :01:52. | |
Let's deal first with the phone call Jenny Palmer received from | :01:52. | :01:55. | |
your special adviser, Stephen Brimstone. She says she was told by | :01:55. | :01:58. | |
Mr Brimstone to vote against the Board's position on terminating the | :01:58. | :02:03. | |
Red Sky contract for the good of the party. How do you respond to | :02:03. | :02:13. | |
:02:13. | :02:14. | ||
that allegation? The programme last night presented the conversation | :02:14. | :02:18. | |
between my special adviser and the councillor, in a particular way. I | :02:18. | :02:24. | |
want to be clear it was a single telephone conversation and it was | :02:24. | :02:28. | |
the short telephone conversation that lasted a matter of minutes. | :02:28. | :02:36. | |
The position as I understand it was, the telephone call was to explain | :02:36. | :02:42. | |
to Councillor Palmer, there was a wider context in terms of different | :02:42. | :02:50. | |
contractors. I would like to explain that. The focus was | :02:50. | :02:56. | |
entirely on one company. What I was clear about, and I have since been | :02:56. | :03:01. | |
vindicated on this by independent consultancy report, is it was not | :03:01. | :03:05. | |
restricted to one company. When you look at all of the contract as we | :03:05. | :03:09. | |
investigated, it became clear it was a more widespread problem. He | :03:09. | :03:14. | |
was conveying that information to Mrs Palmer. We will go on to talk | :03:14. | :03:19. | |
about that company and other companies in the moment. | :03:19. | :03:21. | |
She says Mr Brimstone clearly attempted to bring political | :03:21. | :03:24. | |
influence to bear on her. Do you accept she was put under pressure | :03:24. | :03:30. | |
by Mr Brimstone? His account of the conversation is | :03:30. | :03:36. | |
very different from her recollection. Two people who have a | :03:36. | :03:45. | |
conversation and have different recollections. Did you ask Mr | :03:45. | :03:51. | |
Brimstone to make that call to Jenny Palmer? Know. | :03:51. | :03:53. | |
Did he make the call with or without your knowledge? | :03:53. | :04:00. | |
Did you know he was going to make the call? That is a bizarre and | :04:00. | :04:05. | |
ludicrous question. Am I supposed to check every single phone call my | :04:05. | :04:13. | |
staff make? He is your special adviser. Let me finish. There are | :04:13. | :04:23. | |
:04:23. | :04:23. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 130 seconds | :04:23. | :06:33. | |
two different stories about the making an allegation and she is the | :06:33. | :06:38. | |
yearly clearly upset about it. It is part of a major issue now | :06:38. | :06:48. | |
:06:48. | :06:49. | ||
politically in Northern Ireland. are dealing with the Housing | :06:49. | :06:53. | |
executive and the chairman has reported overpayments of �18 | :06:53. | :07:00. | |
million. We are dealing with scandals relating to response | :07:00. | :07:07. | |
maintenance contracts and there seems to be a fixation... It is | :07:07. | :07:13. | |
important that we settle on the context in the context that is why | :07:13. | :07:18. | |
there is -- why is the adverse fixation? We are dealing with tens | :07:18. | :07:25. | |
of millions of pounds. Why do you think Jenny Palmer would not report | :07:25. | :07:28. | |
the conversation with the special adviser of the DUP menace that | :07:28. | :07:38. | |
:07:38. | :07:42. | ||
accurately? -- minister. I can't be held accountable for what she says. | :07:42. | :07:47. | |
It seems to me there is a very partial approach to all these issues | :07:47. | :07:53. | |
within the BBC. Here there is a major rescue of public concern in | :07:53. | :08:01. | |
the fixation of the BBC, and I listened to the interview earlier | :08:01. | :08:08. | |
on, where he was quite frankly rude and overbearing. It is not really a | :08:08. | :08:14. | |
to this discussion. I think it has because it sets up the BBC as | :08:14. | :08:23. | |
defending the indefensible. allegation was made by a DUP | :08:23. | :08:30. | |
councillor, a member of your party. It is about the scale I am dealing | :08:30. | :08:37. | |
with. We have a stock of 90,000 homes... So she does not matter? Let | :08:37. | :08:42. | |
me finish and speak without interrupting. They are 90,000 | :08:42. | :08:46. | |
properties owned by the Housing executive. The standard of service | :08:47. | :08:51. | |
being delivered to many of those tenants has not been good enough. | :08:51. | :08:56. | |
The value for money that should be the hallmark of a public body has | :08:56. | :09:00. | |
not been reached and when I am dealing with those issues I will not | :09:00. | :09:04. | |
be sidetracked by what somebody has said... So we should not be talking | :09:04. | :09:09. | |
about it at all? In the scheme of things, it shows the lack of | :09:09. | :09:15. | |
perspective in the BBC. Is your party going to take any action | :09:15. | :09:25. | |
against her for the allegations she has made? You have this fixation and | :09:25. | :09:29. | |
we will get to the end of the 15 minutes without reaching the core of | :09:29. | :09:39. | |
:09:39. | :09:43. | ||
the matter. Let's move on to Red Sky. You said you always acted with | :09:43. | :09:48. | |
the highest level of integrity. Why did you attend the meeting in June | :09:48. | :09:53. | |
2011 when the representatives of either the administrators or the | :09:53. | :10:00. | |
Housing executive were present? of the things I said at the | :10:00. | :10:05. | |
beginning was that I had the priorities. One was to ensure value | :10:05. | :10:12. | |
for money, secondly to ensure the good quality service, and Dublin | :10:12. | :10:16. | |
that in everything I do, I will do it with integrity and I have sought | :10:16. | :10:26. | |
:10:26. | :10:30. | ||
at all times to do that. -- thirdly that in everything I do. Give me a | :10:30. | :10:34. | |
chance to explain without interrupting. The meeting with the | :10:34. | :10:43. | |
people from Red Sky took place two years ago on the 27th of June, 2011. | :10:43. | :10:52. | |
That is correct. That particular meeting, I was approached by a | :10:52. | :10:56. | |
number of representatives from across East Belfast and from | :10:56. | :11:03. | |
different parties with regards to Red Sky. I have representation from | :11:03. | :11:07. | |
other parties and from the DUP... The only members there were | :11:08. | :11:17. | |
political? Are they to be condemned for being particularly active. | :11:17. | :11:27. | |
:11:27. | :11:27. | ||
only politicians present were members of the DUP. Your... If I am | :11:27. | :11:31. | |
asked to have a meeting with elected representatives, they bring people | :11:31. | :11:36. | |
with them and I will hold the meeting. Even if it was a breach of | :11:36. | :11:43. | |
the ministerial code? The legal advice I have received is nothing | :11:43. | :11:47. | |
improper happened at all. Did you take that advice before the meeting | :11:47. | :11:51. | |
or after the meeting? understanding is that the advice was | :11:51. | :11:56. | |
taken, and my recollection is, bearing in mind that this was two | :11:56. | :12:04. | |
years ago, we had advice beforehand that was checked out after. You must | :12:04. | :12:07. | |
have asked for advice because you might have been concerned you were | :12:07. | :12:15. | |
in breach? You are expecting I would take advice and then when I do that | :12:15. | :12:23. | |
as a problem! I was very clear on this. I wanted to make sure that in | :12:23. | :12:31. | |
addressing the issues, and I have acknowledged clearly there were | :12:31. | :12:37. | |
issues about Red Sky, but I also acknowledged and was subsequently | :12:37. | :12:42. | |
vindicated that when you look at all the other contactors at the same | :12:42. | :12:47. | |
time and we examined six other contactors... But the clear evidence | :12:47. | :12:51. | |
from the independent forensic audit that was done indicated that there | :12:51. | :12:55. | |
may have been problems with other companies... You are totally wrong | :12:55. | :13:03. | |
on that! There was clear evidence that Red Sky had been acting | :13:03. | :13:13. | |
:13:13. | :13:13. | ||
inappropriately. These factors, the report that was commissioned did not | :13:13. | :13:18. | |
consider any of the others. It did not see they were clean or at | :13:18. | :13:28. | |
:13:28. | :13:30. | ||
fault... I must correct you there. The initial report identified issues | :13:30. | :13:34. | |
with Red Sky. My question at that point was to the chairman of the | :13:34. | :13:40. | |
Housing executive, have you looked at the other housing companies? The | :13:40. | :13:47. | |
answer was that they had in place... Without interrupting. It is | :13:48. | :13:55. | |
quite clear that he said they are robust systems in place. The probe | :13:55. | :14:05. | |
was that that was not true. It may or may not be the case... FB report | :14:05. | :14:09. | |
was very clear there was wrongdoing, why did you not do something about | :14:09. | :14:16. | |
that? Why did you to defend contracts being given? Is that not | :14:16. | :14:24. | |
the point? If you would only listen to what I said. I said very clearly | :14:24. | :14:28. | |
I am not in the business of defending. I am not defending anyone | :14:28. | :14:32. | |
and that beer is wrongdoing I will deal with that. The point I am | :14:32. | :14:40. | |
making clearly is that the report was commissioned by the Housing | :14:40. | :14:43. | |
executive and they picked out one company and do not deal with the | :14:43. | :14:53. | |
:14:53. | :14:54. | ||
others. Sorry, I will take the opportunity, please. Give me the | :14:54. | :14:59. | |
opportunity to respond. I am giving you the opportunity but I have a lot | :14:59. | :15:06. | |
of questions and you are repeating yourself. The point is we were in | :15:06. | :15:09. | |
the process potentially taking a contract away from a company where | :15:09. | :15:13. | |
there clearly something wrong to give it to another company where | :15:13. | :15:17. | |
there was potentially something wrong because it was already clear | :15:17. | :15:24. | |
that point... You do not know that at that time. On the 27th of June | :15:24. | :15:33. | |
you asked for the contract to be extended. You said you were not | :15:33. | :15:35. | |
defending them but you asked for the contract to continue with them for | :15:35. | :15:42. | |
it for the period of time. I have the minutes in front of me. That is | :15:42. | :15:50. | |
totally wrong and I hope you retract it. There was a second company which | :15:50. | :15:57. | |
had emerged. Do you mind if we talk about Red Sky? The menace than | :15:57. | :16:05. | |
advised he would like to have the administrators in place. -- | :16:05. | :16:09. | |
minister. You then said during this time the proposed new company might | :16:09. | :16:13. | |
have been able to assess its own matters and he'll is why I am | :16:13. | :16:22. | |
asking. Red Sky representatives were talking about acquiring the | :16:23. | :16:28. | |
company's contracts for a new company. That according to the QC | :16:28. | :16:35. | |
who was consulted is in breach of the ministerial code. When we were | :16:35. | :16:42. | |
dealing with Red Sky, I was already in possession of evidence that | :16:42. | :16:44. | |
another of the companies was a company where they were similar | :16:44. | :16:51. | |
difficulties. I was suspicious because it was clear to me that if | :16:51. | :16:56. | |
you look across the whole realm of contracts, you have more than one | :16:56. | :17:01. | |
company where there were irregularities. They were covering | :17:01. | :17:07. | |
in more than one district, and beer you come to the conclusion, how | :17:07. | :17:16. | |
widespread is this? -- therefore. That report which you are obviously | :17:16. | :17:22. | |
not particularly interested in, clearly indicated that when you | :17:22. | :17:32. | |
:17:32. | :17:34. | ||
looked at the six companies, similar issues record. Why were you at that | :17:34. | :17:37. | |
meeting and why were not representatives of the | :17:37. | :17:38. | |
administrators they not representatives of the | :17:38. | :17:44. | |
administrators there? You could not with any authority talk to | :17:44. | :17:54. | |
:17:54. | :18:01. | ||
employees? They were not. Why were you taking part in that meeting? | :18:01. | :18:11. | |
:18:11. | :18:14. | ||
than you are. You can either ask questions or you can try that | :18:14. | :18:24. | |
bullying approach. I will answer questions when I get a chance | :18:24. | :18:32. | |
without being rudely interrupted. I am trying to connect a point. I | :18:32. | :18:37. | |
think our viewers would like to know. I should have an opportunity | :18:37. | :18:47. | |
to connect all the errors you are introducing. You made a statement a | :18:47. | :18:50. | |
moment ago and if you would actually listen instead of grimacing, you | :18:50. | :19:00. | |
might have a sense of what is going on. You keep talking about other | :19:00. | :19:10. | |
:19:10. | :19:12. | ||
issues? I will deal with the issue quite simply. The report | :19:12. | :19:14. | |
investigated six different companies and it was clear that someone issues | :19:14. | :19:24. | |
:19:24. | :19:36. | ||
record. You said you know all about that. What I am going to ask you | :19:36. | :19:44. | |
finally... I will come back to Red Sky. In all my correspondence, what | :19:44. | :19:49. | |
I was keen to secure was that we keep the administrator were in place | :19:49. | :19:53. | |
until we get to a point where there could be an open situation where | :19:53. | :20:03. | |
:20:03. | :20:12. | ||
they could keep the contract going. They were sitting in a meeting with | :20:12. | :20:22. | |
:20:22. | :20:25. | ||
ministers and others, getting an unfair... That is not true.We have | :20:26. | :20:30. | |
run out of time, but this is an issue that was raised to date. It | :20:30. | :20:37. | |
is simple, would it not be wise for you to stand aside as social | :20:37. | :20:41. | |
development minister while the Assembly discusses the issue on | :20:41. | :20:45. | |
Monday and while this statutory inquiry investigates the issue? | :20:45. | :20:51. | |
have not had that suggestion put to me by anybody. I spent over two | :20:51. | :20:53. | |
hours with the committee this morning and they did not suggest | :20:53. | :21:00. | |
that. It would be ludicrous anyway. Other politicians have been on the | :21:00. | :21:04. | |
airwaves suggesting it. No the D has put it to me. Would it not make | :21:04. | :21:09. | |
sense for you to step aside and allow the inquiry to happen without | :21:09. | :21:17. | |
you being in post as minister? is a bizarre suggestion. That is | :21:17. | :21:22. | |
what the First Minister did while the investigation was going on, | :21:22. | :21:27. | |
then he resumed his post. I have no intention of stepping aside and | :21:28. | :21:36. | |
doing the job and I am doing. The Gazette -- Executive has condemned | :21:36. | :21:43. | |
people, 10,000 tenants living in awful conditions. I have been | :21:43. | :21:48. | |
vindicated time and time again. The report you skimmed over so likely | :21:49. | :21:54. | |
vindicated the stand I have taken. A time after time, reports have | :21:54. | :21:59. | |
shown I have been right and the Housing Executive got it wrong. | :21:59. | :22:09. | |
When the Deputy First Minister so today, this potentially is | :22:09. | :22:14. | |
damaging... The minister appeared before the Social Development | :22:14. | :22:18. | |
Committee this morning following the spotlight programme and two | :22:18. | :22:24. | |
members of the committee are with me now. Thanks to you both for | :22:24. | :22:29. | |
joining us on the programme. Alex, you heard a very robust defence | :22:30. | :22:32. | |
from the minister regarding the allegations of political | :22:32. | :22:37. | |
interference made last night. Do you accept his defence of his | :22:37. | :22:46. | |
actions? My job, as chair of the committee is to oversee an inquiry | :22:46. | :22:50. | |
which the committee agreed to establish this morning. It will be | :22:50. | :22:55. | |
the most thorough investigation around these allegations. What we | :22:55. | :22:59. | |
have heard so far has been uncomfortable viewing and listening. | :22:59. | :23:05. | |
I think the public confidence is continuing to be dented over the | :23:05. | :23:11. | |
Government's in the Assembly. I do believe this is potentially the | :23:11. | :23:17. | |
biggest political scandal to hit the Assembly since 1988. As I had | :23:17. | :23:22. | |
just said, the allegations of the potential to undermine public | :23:22. | :23:27. | |
confidence in public institutions. The minister's response to that is, | :23:27. | :23:31. | |
he has no case to answer. minister is prepared to make that | :23:31. | :23:37. | |
point. But the inquiry will have the power and this will be a | :23:37. | :23:41. | |
statutory inquiry, and the committee will have the power to | :23:41. | :23:48. | |
all of the evidence, the IMO and -- e-mails, telephone records, and all | :23:48. | :23:51. | |
the individuals are relevant to this inquiry, including the | :23:51. | :23:56. | |
minister, the Housing Executive and others. This will be a robust and | :23:56. | :24:01. | |
thorough investigation. This will be thorough and there will be no | :24:01. | :24:11. | |
:24:11. | :24:12. | ||
hiding place, if there is any wrong doing. We have had allegations | :24:12. | :24:20. | |
which have been tabled, which talks about political interference. It is | :24:20. | :24:28. | |
from bullying to bribery, which is from political interference to | :24:28. | :24:38. | |
illegal activity. I am concerned. In respect of the point you're | :24:38. | :24:41. | |
dealing with the minister on earlier, I spoke to the minister at | :24:41. | :24:46. | |
the head of that, and I said I thought he was on very thin ice by | :24:46. | :24:50. | |
attending that meeting as a minister, with people who had been | :24:50. | :24:58. | |
deemed to be guilty of fraudulent activity, the management of Red Sky. | :24:58. | :25:03. | |
The minister did involve himself in that and it was very difficult. | :25:03. | :25:07. | |
do not think he should have been at the meeting? You have concerns the | :25:07. | :25:13. | |
Red Sky people were at that meeting and there were not representatives | :25:13. | :25:16. | |
of the administrators or the housing Executive? I use the term, | :25:16. | :25:23. | |
I thought he was on thin ice. you share those concerns? Totally. | :25:23. | :25:27. | |
I did ask this morning the nature of the representation if they were | :25:27. | :25:34. | |
still employed by the administrators at Red Sky where | :25:34. | :25:42. | |
private individuals had been previously at Red Sky. It was a | :25:42. | :25:45. | |
position the minister would have been badly advised to get himself | :25:45. | :25:51. | |
into. Do you think it was a breach of the Ministerial Code? You have | :25:51. | :25:58. | |
an opinion which we might defer to mind. I actually said to the | :25:58. | :26:04. | |
minister at the meeting, and his staff in the room and his adviser, | :26:04. | :26:10. | |
I thought he was on Derry, very thin ice. He was meeting people who | :26:10. | :26:14. | |
were trying to get business, people who were deemed to be responsible | :26:14. | :26:18. | |
for fraud. At the same time they were trying to get more contracts | :26:19. | :26:28. | |
and have their contracts extended. You gave your reaction to the | :26:29. | :26:33. | |
pressure about Jenny Palmer, about the pressure she was put under. The | :26:33. | :26:36. | |
minister says there are two differing events of that | :26:36. | :26:41. | |
conversation. What is your reaction to what the minister had to say | :26:41. | :26:46. | |
about that? It displayed a lack of understanding and compassion. If | :26:46. | :26:54. | |
one of my colleagues had received a telephone call like that, I would | :26:54. | :27:00. | |
have been trying to clarify the actuality of what was said. I want | :27:00. | :27:05. | |
to unreason the call was made. minister said it was to explain the | :27:05. | :27:13. | |
wider context of the situation? Palmer was occupying a political | :27:13. | :27:20. | |
position on the board. They documented the position they were | :27:20. | :27:25. | |
going to take was correct. I presume, had she been reinforced by | :27:25. | :27:32. | |
her presence, that finding, it might have made the actions | :27:32. | :27:40. | |
slightly more questionable. It is a matter for interpretation. What | :27:40. | :27:44. | |
about the allegations of sectarian influence? Particularly comments | :27:44. | :27:48. | |
that West Belfast elected representatives were out to get at | :27:48. | :27:54. | |
Red Sky, that is what Peter Robinson are said in April 2011? | :27:54. | :27:59. | |
cannot speak for Peter Robinson, and why he made that the surgeon. | :27:59. | :28:09. | |
:28:09. | :28:11. | ||
What he's -- was he right? Certainly not. I raised for the | :28:11. | :28:15. | |
Housing Executive, complaints about Red Sky work and non-work carried | :28:15. | :28:20. | |
out on houses. I raise those concerns on behalf of constituents. | :28:20. | :28:26. | |
Therefore the representatives that my party made were solely about the | :28:26. | :28:31. | |
bad workmanship that was being carried out by Red Sky. A question | :28:31. | :28:35. | |
to both of you, should the minister stand aside while these inquiries | :28:35. | :28:41. | |
continue? There is a precedent given, the actions of Ian Paisley | :28:41. | :28:47. | |
Jnr, who is not a minister, but was elected on the First Minister. I | :28:47. | :28:51. | |
think the minister should give serious consideration to that cause | :28:51. | :28:56. | |
of action. I put to the minister directly at the meeting. How did he | :28:56. | :29:02. | |
feel about carrying on his pivotal role particularly in relation to | :29:02. | :29:06. | |
what mate -- might replace the Housing Executive and the current | :29:06. | :29:11. | |
public mood and the issue in his confidence on the ability to do | :29:11. | :29:17. | |
that. I put the question to him this morning, did he feel he was | :29:17. | :29:22. | |
able to carry on that were given the community and political | :29:22. | :29:26. | |
sensitivities around it. He chaired that meeting today and you heard | :29:26. | :29:30. | |
what the minister had to say tonight, do you think he should | :29:30. | :29:34. | |
stand aside? It would be wise for the minister to consider where he | :29:34. | :29:44. | |
:29:44. | :29:56. | ||
sits at the moment. It is about of term, but with Stormont recalled | :29:56. | :29:59. | |
for Monday to discuss the Spotlight allegations, some MLAs may have to | :29:59. | :30:03. | |
delay their summer break. However, it is the final episode of The View | :30:03. | :30:05. | |
until September, and to mark the occasion we asked our commentators | :30:05. | :30:08. | |
to put their heads together to judge which politicians scored top marks. | :30:08. | :30:11. | |
Our Political Correspondent, Martina Purdy, has the detail on their | :30:11. | :30:21. | |
:30:21. | :30:21. | ||
deliberations. Tonight, we put the spotlight on | :30:21. | :30:27. | |
Stormont's best performer is. need to wake up and smell the | :30:27. | :30:37. | |
:30:37. | :30:38. | ||
coffee. A personal tribute to her that the law has now passed. Behind | :30:38. | :30:43. | |
the scenes with our producers, the drama and comedy has been closely | :30:43. | :30:53. | |
:30:53. | :31:04. | ||
conversation as we go. Let's make a start with top performing minister. | :31:04. | :31:13. | |
The person I'm going to suggest as Martin McGuinness because a very big | :31:13. | :31:23. | |
:31:23. | :31:28. | ||
duty falls upon him to be seen to work together. He met the Queen | :31:28. | :31:36. | |
during the Diamond Jubilee visit and his ongoing commitment. That was her | :31:36. | :31:41. | |
major crisis with the weather in March. I have a lot of time for | :31:41. | :31:51. | |
:31:51. | :31:52. | ||
Arlene Foster who has been very competent and very well briefed. It | :31:52. | :31:56. | |
is so good to see that she has now been talked about as Peter | :31:56. | :32:05. | |
Robinson's chosen successor. Judges singled out Alex Attwood and Sammy | :32:05. | :32:15. | |
:32:15. | :32:16. | ||
Wilson on finance. Arlene Foster makes the point difficult. He says | :32:16. | :32:20. | |
if push came to shove, he would give the vote to Martin McGuinness. | :32:20. | :32:29. | |
Tough category. Onto the choice for best speaker. One of the important | :32:29. | :32:35. | |
speeches was by Stephen Agnew on gay marriage. He took on two ministers | :32:35. | :32:40. | |
and I thought that was a standout for me. | :32:40. | :32:45. | |
Another nominee John McAllister for his speech warning Mike Nesbitt into | :32:45. | :32:54. | |
sleep walking into Unionist unity. Within days, he had been sacked as | :32:54. | :33:01. | |
the party's deputy leader. By February of this year, he has left | :33:01. | :33:11. | |
:33:11. | :33:11. | ||
the Ulster Unionist Party. Yet another new Unionist party. | :33:11. | :33:16. | |
stuff on welfare reform and housing and social issues. For some time he | :33:16. | :33:21. | |
was out of step with his own party and unionism in general. He saw | :33:21. | :33:31. | |
:33:31. | :33:38. | ||
enormous courage. It has to be Jim Allister by a country mile. | :33:38. | :33:40. | |
Has nomination goes to Jim Wells as a consistent performer. Next up, | :33:40. | :33:50. | |
:33:50. | :34:01. | ||
best use of social media. My vote would go to Conall McDevitt.. He | :34:01. | :34:09. | |
does not shy away from debate online and in social media. The break and | :34:09. | :34:12. | |
direct are also voting for Conall McDevitt although they ugly mentions | :34:13. | :34:22. | |
:34:23. | :34:25. | ||
Jim Allister. Much tougher is best MLA. Jim Allister and Stephen Agnew | :34:25. | :34:29. | |
are singled out again. Sue Ramsey gets mentioned for holding the | :34:30. | :34:38. | |
health minister to account and Simon Hamilton. He has developed from | :34:38. | :34:43. | |
inarticulate to very sure of himself. Very good with his beliefs | :34:43. | :34:48. | |
and much respected and liked as well. Judges are rather coy about | :34:48. | :34:54. | |
their top choice. For me, it is a person who would dwindle popularity | :34:54. | :35:04. | |
:35:04. | :35:04. | ||
contests. To me, this person wins this category. I think we probably | :35:04. | :35:12. | |
agree. Who could that be? The final categorically as most entertaining. | :35:12. | :35:22. | |
:35:22. | :35:25. | ||
They are are some characters. Kelly was carried off. It gave new | :35:25. | :35:30. | |
meaning to the phrase Easter bonnets. Unintentionally funny but | :35:30. | :35:39. | |
for me Sammy Wilson was the guy. When he is on form, he is funny and | :35:39. | :35:44. | |
he can make the host laugh and it is a useful attribute because he | :35:44. | :35:47. | |
sometimes comes up with that for excuses for not being able to do | :35:47. | :35:51. | |
something. Well, you saw some of our esteemed panel of commentators in | :35:52. | :35:55. | |
Martina's film. Two of them are here now to reveal who they chose as | :35:55. | :35:59. | |
winners in each of the categories - and why. Paul McFadden and Alex | :35:59. | :36:09. | |
:36:09. | :36:12. | ||
Kane. Welcome to the programme. Let's dive in, we have five | :36:12. | :36:13. | |
categories in five minutes to do this. | :36:14. | :36:23. | |
:36:24. | :36:24. | ||
Top Performing Minister: The winner is - Martin McGuinness. | :36:24. | :36:34. | |
Why Martin McGuinness? He remains me almost of a boxer like sugar Ray | :36:34. | :36:43. | |
Leonard. It is rare that anybody actually land a punch on him. He has | :36:43. | :36:50. | |
been very statesmanlike and the a lot of people are looking to see the | :36:50. | :36:54. | |
dynamic between the first Minister and Deputy first Minister. Who would | :36:54. | :36:58. | |
think he would be the one with the steady hand and from that point of | :36:58. | :37:04. | |
view he deserves it. Stiff competition but pretty much | :37:04. | :37:10. | |
unanimity on Martin McGuinness? number of occasions when the | :37:10. | :37:15. | |
assembly needed stability, he chose not to rock the boat. Let's move on. | :37:15. | :37:24. | |
Best Speaker: We have joint winners - Stephen Agnew and Michael | :37:24. | :37:34. | |
:37:34. | :37:36. | ||
Copeland. They are quite a few good speakers but a lot of them get up | :37:36. | :37:45. | |
and you know what they will say. These two guys focus on issues and | :37:45. | :37:54. | |
Stephen Agnew just makes a difference with his speech. Stephen | :37:54. | :38:04. | |
Agnew for his passion, Michael Copeland spoke on the gay marriage | :38:04. | :38:09. | |
debate and has Facebook page received 33,000 views. Medical | :38:09. | :38:14. | |
Copeland does not know anything about this sort did not know until | :38:14. | :38:17. | |
it was announced. Most effective use of social media by a politician: The | :38:17. | :38:27. | |
:38:27. | :38:29. | ||
winner is - Conall McDevitt. There was not really much debate? | :38:29. | :38:34. | |
surprise at all. He is prolific Twitter and has his own daily | :38:34. | :38:41. | |
newspaper. He tweets in English and then Spanish and has a huge number | :38:41. | :38:49. | |
of followers and as they deserve a of this category. Let's move on to | :38:49. | :38:52. | |
our penultimate category. Most entertaining politician: The winner | :38:52. | :39:01. | |
is - Sammy Wilson. There are lots who are funny for all | :39:01. | :39:10. | |
the wrong reasons. Lots who think they are funny but have not. Sammy | :39:10. | :39:15. | |
Wilson, when he is on form, can be absolutely brilliant. There have | :39:15. | :39:22. | |
been many times where he gets it just right. The question is whether | :39:22. | :39:29. | |
people are laughing with you are few. He can be both. He sometimes | :39:29. | :39:32. | |
gets it wrong which is always a risk. And finally, Best MLA: The | :39:32. | :39:42. | |
:39:42. | :39:55. | ||
winner is - Jim Allister. You actually said then that, you hinted, | :39:55. | :39:59. | |
not necessarily everybody's most popular but there was considerable | :39:59. | :40:09. | |
:40:09. | :40:09. | ||
unanimity. The vast majority of us believed that his success in getting | :40:09. | :40:17. | |
the bill passed. He managed to drive a wedge between the SDLP and Sinn | :40:17. | :40:27. | |
:40:27. | :40:28. | ||
Fein. It was a remarkable piece of politicking. A deserted winner? | :40:28. | :40:36. | |
Anyone who is grumpier than I am who win something, I am delighted. | :40:36. | :40:44. | |
was an interesting afternoon and there are some choices to be made. | :40:44. | :40:48. | |
It was a bit of fun but I suppose it is quite serious. That's it from The | :40:48. | :40:53. | |
View for this first year. We'll be back in September, but Sunday | :40:53. | :40:56. | |
Politics continues for another two weeks - join me at 11.35 here on BBC | :40:56. | :40:59. |