Whither Traditional Unionism

Whither Traditional Unionism

The partitionists David Cameron the leader o f the British Conservatives and Sir Reg Empey leader of the Ulster Unionist Party are reported to be in the process of forming an alliance between their respective parties. This is a new partitionist move to copper fasten the division of Ireland into two foreign states. Neither of these men show the slightest concern about the Irish disease --- sectarianism unless there is a mass conversion of the catholic community to the old dogmas of traditional toryism following an alliance between the Tories And the U.U.P. Margaret Thatcher sold the traditional unionists down the river in the Anglo Irish Agreement, a sell-out of which the traditional unionist Ian Paisley was keenly aware in his public outburst –Never, Never, Never. But Ian in turn sold traditional Ulster unionism down the river in forming an unholy and ungodly union with Late Sinn Fein/ I.R.A.

With the military defeat of Republicanism by the British in the six counties Partition and its underlying malady –Sectarianism –is being reinforced on the island as never before. The six counties are now polarized into two extreme and constitutionally contradictory sectarian camps of Republican: Late Sinn Fein and the unionism of Right Wing Union Jack Unionism, the D.U.P. For Sir Reg and David the treachery of Margaret Thatcher is being airbrushed away and sectarianism is taken to be the order of the day in Ireland.

At this point in the history of Traditional unionism it should be useful to ask ----Whither traditional Unionism? and look at a radical appraisal of the U.K. by examining what are the fundamentals of U.K. constitution and ask what is the sine qua non of the union.

For traditional Unionists in Ulster the union is constitutionally embodied in: -
(1) Loyalty to the Crown.
(2) The anthem God Save the Queen.
(3) The Union Jack.
(4) A British Passport.
(5) Parliament at Westminster

God Save the Queen is regarded by traditional unionism as being immutable and unchangeable. However God Save the Queen is not a sine qua non of the union. Three Blind Mice as the National Anthem could replace God Save the Queen if that were the will of the House of Commons and deemed appropriate by the British people.

By the same token the union Jack is not immutable and unchangeable. That flag is manmade and was created by Whitehall in 1801 and as such is not a sine qua non of the union. An alternative to the Union Jack is given in THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND ACT Article 9 page224. A suggested redesign of the Irish Tricolour as the National flag of Ireland and a symbol of the United Kingdom of the Sovereign Nation of Ireland and Great Britain can be seen in this Blog. The new design should be called The Royal Flag of Ireland.

Is the existing design of a British Passport a sine qua non of the U.K.? Surely not. The British passport can be redesigned in any shape or form the House of Commons cares to make it. A suggested redesign of a U.K. passport in Ireland is given in the Act as follows:-

(1) Ireland--- written in English Irish and French on the cover along with the Royal flag of Ireland
(2) The Crown Irish Representation c.f. The Act Article 3 Page 195 to be shown on the first inside leaf of the Passport.
(3) The passport should be written in Irish and English.

The holder of such a passport would be an Irish citizen who recognises the Crown as head of state in Ireland and such recognition of the Crown as Head of State is the only sine qua non of the U.K. All else is changeable including Parliament With devolved governments in Scotland and Wales, Parliament at Westminster is now in a state of flux.

Federal Unionism – Early Sinn Fein brings this radical unionism to the attention of traditional unionism At the moment there is a working party in place to examine a new arrangement between the U.U.P. and the Tories. Federal Unionism – Early Sinn Fein has no objection in principal to this except that such an alliance will do nothing to eradicate sectarianism in Ireland. Federal Unionism – Early Sinn Fein puts forward a new approach to the eradication of sectarianism on the island. It is proposed that a constitutionally central collation be formed of the central S.D.L.P. the U.U.P. and Alliance whose aim is to oppose and defeat the constitutional extremists Late Sinn Fein and the D.U.P. The central coalition should be named The Federal Unionist – Early Sinn Fein Party of Ireland. In such a coalition the U.U.P. could retain its association with the Conservatives, the Alliance retain its historic association with the Lib Dems and the S.D.L.P. retain its association with the Labour Party.

If eventually the National Government of Ireland Act were in place, ideally, in the whole of Ireland then the Irish Christian Democrats could be in association with the British Conservatives and with the Christian Democrats in Europe, the Irish liberal democrats could be in association with the Lib Dems in G.B. and with European liberals, and the Irish Social Democrats could remain in association with British Labour and with socialists in Europe.

In such an arrangement politics in Ireland would become normalized being based on the ideological, right, centre and left and the sickness of Ireland –sectarianism will wither away. So whither traditional Unionism?


Michael Gillespie Federal Unionist – Early Sinn Fein