Following today’s IMC report, it appears Gordon Brown is to join the peace process choreography:
A source at the Northern Ireland Government
Affairs Group’s annual general meeting in Hillsborough castle told The
Press Association: “Last week, Peter Hain said the (Rev Ian Paisley’s)
Democratic Unionists would be making a mistake if they believed they
would get a better deal under Gordon Brown than they would under Tony
Blair.
“He went further today at our annual general meeting,
saying people should expect to hear something clearer from Gordon Brown
soon.”
Government sources confirmed tonight the Chancellor of
the Exchequer could indicate within weeks his determination to see Mr
Blair’s policies implemented in Northern Ireland. (Examiner)
The DUP have held out high hopes of a Brown premiership in recent
months. It’s true that there are certain affinities between Brown’s
politics and Paisley’s: notably their Presbyterian roots and their
emphasis on Britishness.
However, it is not a comparison which is likely to do Brown any
favours, and the DUP’s attempts to play it up could well backfire,
forcing him to distance himself from Northern Ireland’s unionists.
If the Examiner article is evidence for this, it also shows the extent to which Brown’s support is now necessary for any peace deal. The Northern Ireland parties, as much as anyone, will be ruthlessly sensitive to the changing balance of power at Westminster.
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