Opinion

Fionnuala O Connor: Sage Peter Robinson knows the trouble Arlene Foster is in

Former DUP leader Peter Robinson is back, this time in the guise of News Letter columnist
Former DUP leader Peter Robinson is back, this time in the guise of News Letter columnist Former DUP leader Peter Robinson is back, this time in the guise of News Letter columnist

Ambition in politics is to some minds an addiction, though arguably the decider for decent people to involve themselves in a trying and often dirty game.

There are people with a yen for politics who know their own and their families’ limits. Those also tend to be gentler souls, perhaps more thoughtful.

On This Day, treasure chest of pocket-history curated by public-spirited historian and teacher Éamon Phoenix, last Saturday quoted one of the best examples of a non-politician political thinker, the late lamented Maurice Hayes. As chairman of the Community Relations Commission in November 1970, with the Troubles roaring into being, Hayes lectured Bangor Rotarians on ‘the malaise of the silent majority’. The average citizen, he said, tended to think decisions on society were ‘a matter of fate’ over which they had no influence. And too few were prepared to unequivocally condemn violence from their own communities.

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The Phoenix choice was a reminder of those who welcomed the new SDLP but were never going into politics themselves. Today, Hayes might be called an influencer. But as he later recognised, he had little effect as the storm howled on the Rotarian tendency and none at all on the emergent Provisional IRA.

In some the calling sleeps to wake again, sometimes in more subtle form. So we have Peter Robinson back in the guise of News Letter columnist, offering tips on how best to prolong the union. Makes sense, might be useful. Will any of those still on stage listen?

By the time P. Robinson withdrew, a string of disasters had done for his standing in the party. There is little sign of belated humility, though it won’t be lost on the Robinson sense of humour (his best quality) that his own predecessor, after having to be persistently shown the door, also began a column in the News Letter. The most memorable feature of the Doc’s short run was an illustration of Icarus, wings about to drop off. Icarus, the text made clear, was Robinson. The House of Paisley felt no goodwill towards the Doc’s successor.

He may not have the least effect on unionist willingness to think about persuading for the union rather than denying the possibility of it ending. The Robinsonian turn as sage at least looks geared more to support the current leader than downgrade her.

Why not, since it was he who pushed her into the limelight in the first place. He knows the trouble she is in, and the dead-end into which his party has so willingly marched.

Few, though, retreat from political life because they recognise the damage it does them. Call that duty at best, but perhaps also give the stimulant of ambition its due.

Fionnuala O Connor
Fionnuala O Connor Fionnuala O Connor

One of the side-issues in this most garish of American presidential elections has been the tale of Hunter, troubled son of Joe Biden. Joe’s own driven nature has drawn less attention, his main selling point the fact that he does low-key so well. But to those of us a little way from the drama of it all, and less accustomed now to elderly political leaders, surely the most noticeable Biden feature is his age. In the middle of a pandemic he wants to be America’s Commander in Chief, and he has his 78th birthday next month.

Almost as strange is how long he has been hankering for this job. He first ran for the presidency thirty-two years ago, his three-month campaign shadowed by evidence of fakery in his educational record, repeated plagiarism in speeches. In today’s light and set against the tower of Trumpian lies all of that may look less shocking now. Still far from wonderful, and he put himself through it after losing his first wife and child.

Inestimably better than Trump, nevertheless. And Biden chose an apparently competent woman to step in – should ambition fail to keep his own blood pounding. Spare us the green schmaltz. But good luck, Joe.