The Labour leader refused to be put off by a protester, and went on to give a masterclass in the higher priggery.
Giving the green light to reviving the NILP could be a less-controversial way for Labour to organise in the Province. What could be more balanced than having two sister parties, one nationalist and one unionist?
It is not a coincidence that the only bits of England he omits from his coalition of “progressive values” are those that are net contributors to the Exchequer.
The Belfast Agreement decoupled Northern Ireland’s constitutional future from day-to-day elected politics, but the pro-UK parties failed to adapt.
Joining the UK would end its status as a dependant territory, and so finally nullify Spanish (and Argentine) arguments based on the UN definition of decolonisation.
Hopes for normal, non-sectarian and growth-focused politics have been dashed as rent-seeking hard-liners dominate at Stormont.
The last thing Anas Sarwar wants as he fights to win back central Scotland is fresh fuel for the Nationalists’ claim his party are red Tories.
It will give cover to Conservative opponents of the deal. But the crucial question is the future of Stormont, and on that the Unionists are silent.
“The problems faced by Margaret Thatcher and Nigel Lawson – and indeed George Osborne and David Cameron – are different from the crises and challenges we face today.”
“I know it might seem sudden, but I have been wrestling with it for weeks”, says the outgoing First Minister and SNP leader.
The most likely way through this impasse is a new agreement, sitting on top of the existing Protocol and introducing a new set of principles on how it operates. Such an agreement must preserve Northern Ireland’s constitutional status.
The most likely-looking outcome, at this point, is the same one which has marked the entire process: another deadline from the Government coming and going.
The first and best allies of the campaign for independence have always been pro-UK politicians who think they can buy it off.
To mark the 40th anniversary of the murder of Edgar Graham by the Provisional IRA, this is an adaptation of the chapter on his assassination from Himself Alone: David Trimble and the Ordeal of Unionism by Lord Godson.