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Gorrister - A Little Bit Of Wank
A Little Bit Of Wank
MPs for East (London)derry
2001-2010: Gregory Campbell (DUP)
2001 def: William Ross (UUP), John Dallat (SDLP), Francie Brolly (Sinn Féin), Yvonne Boyle (Alliance)
2005 def: David McClarty (UUP), John Dallat (SDLP), Billy Leonard (Sinn Féin), Yvonne Boyle (Alliance), Malcolm Samuel (Independent)
2010-2016: Wililam Ross (TUV)
2010 def: Gregory Campbell (DUP), David Harding (UUP), John Dallat (SDLP), Billy Leonard (Sinn Féin), Barney Fitzpatrick (Alliance)
2015 def: Claire Sugden (UUP), Gregory Campbell (DUP), Gerry Mullan (SDLP), Cathal Ó hOisín (Sinn Féin), Yvonne Boyle (Alliance), David McClarty (Independent), Russell Watton (PUP), Neil Paine (CISTA), Liz St. Clair-Legge (NI Conservative), Allison Watson (Green)
2016-2020: William Ross (NIPA)
2020-: Claire Sugden (UUP)
2020 def: Ruth Patterson (NIPA), John Dallat (SDLP), Gregory Campbell (Independent), Bernadette Archibald (Sinn Féin), George Robinson (DUP), Chris McCaw (Alliance), Gerry Mullan (Independent)
POD here is that the UUP elect Alan McFarland rather than Reg Empey in 2005. McFarland is at least slightly better at keeping the party above water for the 2007 Assembly Elections, not managing a complete disaster. As such, McFarland explicitly rules out a pact with the Tories for 2010, instead hoping to retake the mantle of unionism from the ascendant DUP and bring the party back from the cold. In East Londonderry this manifests itself in a very strong campaign from local candidate David Harding, who manages to cut into Gregory Campbell's voteshare. In addition, William Ross, attempting a comeback on the TUV bandwagon, was able to overcome concerns about his age to give Campbell a serious scare. The TUV surge was already giving DUP leaders at Stormont some amount of dread, but here it looked as if it could actually outpace them and steal a seat from under their noses. In addition to an apparently resurgent UUP, concerns were growing. And in the end, the fears were realised as William Ross scraped past Campbell on a recount, winning by what was perhaps one of the election's slimmest margins on 50 votes. The SDLP and Sinn Féin were dead even while the UUP was only peeking behind the DUP. The TUV double down on their success by winning three seats in 2011's Assembly elections, including one in their 'shining star' seat. Part of the TUV's extra influence at Stormont lead to a ban on double jobbing, which caused controversy for Campbell, who was not so secretly looking for his old seat back. As well as that, he attempted to contest the DUP's leadership election in 2014, called after Peter Robinson's resignation as a result of On The Runs. Nigel Dodds won the eventual contest but Campbell's relations with the party were soured somewhat, resulting in a testy selection contest for 2015 as the Stormont Government went in unpopular. Ross re-entered parliament even with a severely divided unionist opposition, leading calls for a pact between Sinn Féin and the SDLP whose united voteshare would've overtaken the unionists. The 2015 election also marked the first occassion of the TUV's electoral alliance with UKIP, who were on the rise both in Northern Ireland as an anti-corrpution force and nationally. This was later reinforced by a merger between the two parties in late 2016, done after UKIP's surge in the polls following Britain's vote to Remain in the EU. The two parties would become the Northern Irish Patriotic Alliance, led by Ruth Patterson.
Ross retired in 2020, well past the age of 80. Patterson dropped herself in what was seen as the party's most winnable seat, angering the local association. Campbell tried one last time but after being told he wouldn't be selected decided to stand as an independent. The SDLP would face a splinter of its own as former candidate Gerry Mullan broke off to run his own campaign. The UUP's 2015 candidate, Claire Sugden, ran a tough campaign against Patterson, aiming to win on a broad coalition of unionists and nationalists. She succeeded in doing so, just about pipping Patterson to the post while Dallat ran a close third. Patterson would resign, to be replaced on a temporary basis by party grandee Lord Allister, with the likely successor being North Belfast MLA Jolene Bunting.
MPs for East (London)derry
2001-2010: Gregory Campbell (DUP)
2001 def: William Ross (UUP), John Dallat (SDLP), Francie Brolly (Sinn Féin), Yvonne Boyle (Alliance)
2005 def: David McClarty (UUP), John Dallat (SDLP), Billy Leonard (Sinn Féin), Yvonne Boyle (Alliance), Malcolm Samuel (Independent)
2010-2016: Wililam Ross (TUV)
2010 def: Gregory Campbell (DUP), David Harding (UUP), John Dallat (SDLP), Billy Leonard (Sinn Féin), Barney Fitzpatrick (Alliance)
2015 def: Claire Sugden (UUP), Gregory Campbell (DUP), Gerry Mullan (SDLP), Cathal Ó hOisín (Sinn Féin), Yvonne Boyle (Alliance), David McClarty (Independent), Russell Watton (PUP), Neil Paine (CISTA), Liz St. Clair-Legge (NI Conservative), Allison Watson (Green)
2016-2020: William Ross (NIPA)
2020-: Claire Sugden (UUP)
2020 def: Ruth Patterson (NIPA), John Dallat (SDLP), Gregory Campbell (Independent), Bernadette Archibald (Sinn Féin), George Robinson (DUP), Chris McCaw (Alliance), Gerry Mullan (Independent)
POD here is that the UUP elect Alan McFarland rather than Reg Empey in 2005. McFarland is at least slightly better at keeping the party above water for the 2007 Assembly Elections, not managing a complete disaster. As such, McFarland explicitly rules out a pact with the Tories for 2010, instead hoping to retake the mantle of unionism from the ascendant DUP and bring the party back from the cold. In East Londonderry this manifests itself in a very strong campaign from local candidate David Harding, who manages to cut into Gregory Campbell's voteshare. In addition, William Ross, attempting a comeback on the TUV bandwagon, was able to overcome concerns about his age to give Campbell a serious scare. The TUV surge was already giving DUP leaders at Stormont some amount of dread, but here it looked as if it could actually outpace them and steal a seat from under their noses. In addition to an apparently resurgent UUP, concerns were growing. And in the end, the fears were realised as William Ross scraped past Campbell on a recount, winning by what was perhaps one of the election's slimmest margins on 50 votes. The SDLP and Sinn Féin were dead even while the UUP was only peeking behind the DUP. The TUV double down on their success by winning three seats in 2011's Assembly elections, including one in their 'shining star' seat. Part of the TUV's extra influence at Stormont lead to a ban on double jobbing, which caused controversy for Campbell, who was not so secretly looking for his old seat back. As well as that, he attempted to contest the DUP's leadership election in 2014, called after Peter Robinson's resignation as a result of On The Runs. Nigel Dodds won the eventual contest but Campbell's relations with the party were soured somewhat, resulting in a testy selection contest for 2015 as the Stormont Government went in unpopular. Ross re-entered parliament even with a severely divided unionist opposition, leading calls for a pact between Sinn Féin and the SDLP whose united voteshare would've overtaken the unionists. The 2015 election also marked the first occassion of the TUV's electoral alliance with UKIP, who were on the rise both in Northern Ireland as an anti-corrpution force and nationally. This was later reinforced by a merger between the two parties in late 2016, done after UKIP's surge in the polls following Britain's vote to Remain in the EU. The two parties would become the Northern Irish Patriotic Alliance, led by Ruth Patterson.
Ross retired in 2020, well past the age of 80. Patterson dropped herself in what was seen as the party's most winnable seat, angering the local association. Campbell tried one last time but after being told he wouldn't be selected decided to stand as an independent. The SDLP would face a splinter of its own as former candidate Gerry Mullan broke off to run his own campaign. The UUP's 2015 candidate, Claire Sugden, ran a tough campaign against Patterson, aiming to win on a broad coalition of unionists and nationalists. She succeeded in doing so, just about pipping Patterson to the post while Dallat ran a close third. Patterson would resign, to be replaced on a temporary basis by party grandee Lord Allister, with the likely successor being North Belfast MLA Jolene Bunting.
- Gorrister
- Word Count: 700