The first conference of Jim Allister's Traditional Unionist Voice party offered little by way of practical politics, but did lay the foundations for the European elections, writes Gerry Moriarty
UP TO 200 delegates attended the first annual conference of the Traditional Unionist Voice party under the slogan "Putting it Right" and the theme, Nothing that is Morally Wrong Can Be Politically Right.
That latter line was persistently hammered home by the gathering in the Park Avenue Hotel in east Belfast on Saturday. The delegates were mainly middle-aged, but with a good representation of young and older age groups. They were united in their detestation of Sinn Féin having a place in the Northern Executive and of the DUP, as they saw it, shoring up that "corrupt" coalition.
Some former DUP, Ulster Unionist and UK Unionist Party faces were in evidence at the conference, such as Cedric Wilson and Norman Boyd, both former UKUP Assembly members; Tom Robinson, now a TUV councillor in Larne, having served with the UKUP; and David Calvert, whose allegiance previously was to the DUP.
William Ross, the former Ulster Unionist East Derry MP, now president of the TUV, was on holidays in New Zealand, but he had a speech delivered by video. His vehement opposition to powersharing with Sinn Féin reflected the mood, bearing and opinion of the delegates.
The decision of the DUP, and before them the UUP, to enter into partnership with Sinn Féin was "treachery of the worst possible kind" a "betrayal [that] caused a deep, deep festering hurt in the unionist people", he said. All delegates agreed.
At the DUP annual conference the previous weekend DUP leader and First Minister Peter Robinson - the focus of relentless accusations of betrayal and treachery - baldly warned that the only alternative to sharing power was direct rule from London with an increased role for Dublin - a situation in which unionism would be weakened and damaged.
The speakers rejected this argument. But if they had a concrete workable alternative to Sinn Féin in government it was difficult to apprehend. Mr Allister called for unionist unity and spoke of voluntary coalition and "even qualified majorities" at the helm, but with Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness stranded on the shore. But the mechanics of how this might work was absent.
David Morgan from Fermanagh harked back to the days of the mid-to-late 1970s when unionist favourite Roy Mason, with his introduction of the SAS into the North, tried a full-frontal assault on the IRA. Even with a return to direct rule - if there were no takers for voluntary coalition - "that was a much better option for us and a much less right option for Sinn Féin/IRA".
Mr Allister will be happy with his first conference. While he might not front a party offering practical politics, at the very least he has laid solid foundations on which to fight for his MEP seat next June.