No party thinks less of Ulster's unionists than the Ulster Unionist Party.
That's the only conclusion I can come to after Newtownabbey UUP Councillor
Ivan Hunter effectively accused Father Dan Whyte of responsibility for last
Sunday's disgusting carnival of hatred at Carnmoney Cemetery: "Father Whyte
has an agenda that we don't seem to be getting to the bottom of" said
Councillor Hunter. "It is quite evident . that they (the Catholic Church)
made a determined effort to segregate and sectarianise Carnmoney." Just to
leave no doubt as to the extent of Father Whyte's complicity, Councillor
Hunter also blamed him for the 'Kill All Taigs' graffiti daubed on his
church last week: "The very fact that he didn't remove the graffiti shows
that he has an agenda," the councillor added. Case closed.
I'm afraid that Councillor Hunter has form on this issue. Last July he told
Newtownabbey Borough Council that the best way to stop attacks on Catholic
graves in Carnmoney Cemetery would be to ban "mass gatherings" - we may
assume that the pun was intentional. Yet Councillor Hunter is perfectly
capable of taking a hard line against vandalism when it suits him. Just two
months ago, for example, he unreservedly condemned those responsible for
malicious damage at the Corr's Corner electricity substation: "I
wholeheartedly condemn this behaviour," he said. "These actions affect the
whole community, especially those who are in a more vulnerable position."
Perhaps Councillor Hunter thinks Northern Ireland Electricity customers are
in a more vulnerable position than the bereaved at the graveside - or
perhaps he just couldn't see a way in this instance to get wired in to the
other side.
But this only begs the question further: what caused an Ulster Unionist
councillor, supposedly a representative of the better instincts of the
Unionist tradition, to make such a revolting statement about the Carnmoney
Cemetery scandal? The answer may lie, sadly and quite predictably, in the
2001 Newtownabbey Council election results in which one Ivan Hunter scraped
home on the tenth count with just 607 votes, behind Arthur Templeton of the
DUP who was elected on the eighth count with 640 votes. Although this is a
large-enough support base to launch a leadership challenge against David
Trimble it probably leaves Councillor Hunter feeling a bit vulnerable on his
extreme-right flank. So what better way to out-flank the extreme right than
by being more DUP than the DUP themselves? Such a narrow margin of defeat
must alter perspectives as well - perhaps when you're behind your opponent
by just 33 votes 200 bitter women waving placards look like sweet
opportunity.
But there is one statistic from the 2001 election that Councillor Hunter has
overlooked - the 61% turnout. In Newtownabbey's last council election 22,652
people didn't vote. A further 938 spoiled their ballots, perhaps in protest,
in which case they might have been better off tearing them up in the nearest
cemetery. Why does it never occur to the Ulster Unionist Party to appeal to
these people instead of pandering to the absolute scum of the earth? The
only possible answer is that the Ulster Unionist Party can't tell the
difference between the scum of the earth and the unionist electorate in
general. Perhaps, when Councillor Hunter drives past Rathcoole, he assumes
that everyone there is as bigoted as the Carnmoney mob and that only
laziness prevents them all from throwing bricks at Catholic mourners, as it
presumably also prevents half of them from voting. It never seems to occur
to anyone in the Ulster Unionist Party that their dwindling support is due
to revulsion at their failure to stand up to sectarianism. Instead the party
increasingly responds to every electoral setback by assuming that they
aren't sectarian enough. In their heart of hearts it seems the UUP suspects
that every protestant is a bigot. They really need to spend less time in
each other's company.
Interestingly Newtownabbey's DUP councillors restricted themselves this week
to qualified mumbling about the "right to protest", for having done so much
to push out the limits of intolerance the DUP are better aware of where
those limits lie. Yet still Ulster Unionist politicians - councillors, MLAs
and MPs - let the DUP set the lowest limit on our common denomination even
as the resulting disaster rolls over them. Councillor Hunter must think he
is being very clever taking a hard line at Carnmoney and that those 200
votes are his for the taking but he will be sorely disappointed. For why
vote DUP-lite when you can have the real thing? And beyond that, once
they're all the same, why vote at all?
If the Ulster Unionist Party wants to beat the DUP it should take a stand
against the politics of the DUP. As a start, if Councillor Ivan Hunter
doesn't like that graffiti on Father Whyte's church door, he should locate a
brush and a backbone and clean it off himself.
