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30 September 2011

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THE RACE FOR MARGARET RITCHIE’S CROWN | FOUR CONTENDERS DECLARE

SDLP runners and riders overtaken by McGuinness

BY PEADAR WHELAN

Margaret Ritchie

» BY PEADAR WHELAN

THE CONTENDERS for the SDLP leadership race have burst out of the stalls and are now tearing, hell for leather, around the political racecourse.
The air is thick with policy statements and mission statements outlining how each participant is different from his rivals. And the key question of how the winner will transform the SDLP’s fortunes is the platform on which each candidate is building their publicity campaign.
Well, that should have been the case but Martin McGuinness has stolen their thunder.
The weekend announcement that the joint First Minister is to compete for the Presidency dominated the media and so swamped the news agenda, leaving the SDLP leadership hopefuls in the shade. And that seems to be where the SDLP finds itself in the landscape of Irish politics today — sitting in Sinn Féin’s shade.
Once feted by the British and Irish establishments as the voice of Northern Irish nationalism, the SDLP’s relevance depended on it being a bulwark against republicanism, a first line of defence aimed at stemming the political growth of Sinn Féin. Now we see Sinn Féin and Martin McGuinness as serious contenders in ‘big picture politics’ across the country while the SDLP struggles to be relevant.
When nominations for the SDLP leadership race closed on Friday evening, 16th September, there were four names in the contest: Patsy McGlone, Alasdair McDonnell, Alex Attwood and Conall McDevitt.
Patsy McGlone, who set the ball rolling in August when he declared he would challenge the present incumbent, Margaret Ritchie, appears to be the favourite. His early declaration seems to have given his campaign a degree of impetus and an advantage over his rivals. Against that, his early decision to run is being seen in some party quarters as a ‘Brutus moment’, a show of disloyalty to the leader born out of his unhappiness at not being given an Executive portfolio.
It is also second time round for Alasdair McDonnell. His challenge two years ago foundered as the party chose Margaret Ritchie. That race, according to the talk at the time, was settled on the basis of who was ‘the least disliked’.
So will McDonnell’s punt be any more successful this time round? Rated at 2 to 1 by the bookies, McDonnell seems to have some appeal.
An interesting twist to the fight is the late nomination of Conall McDevitt, reputed to be the favourite amongst the younger SDLPers. A sitting MLA in McDonnell’s South Belfast constituency, McDevitt has only been an elected representative since May. His previous term as an MLA was as replacement for Carmel Hanna, who stood down.
Described as a ‘PR guru’, McDevitt worked on Margaret Ritchie’s campaign when she defeated McDonnell.
The last and probably least likely to win is Alex Attwood.
His expressions of loyalty to outgoing leader Margaret Ritchie may add to his appeal in some quarters but in general his support base is limited. Attwood’s continued sniping at Sinn Féin over the years might help his campaign so when he loses the election and his ministerial position after the new leader’s broom sweeps clean, republicans won’t be too bothered.
As some media focused on the SDLP leadership battle, Seamus Mallon, former deputy leader, popped on our TV screens again.
The thrust of his message is that the SDLP is in the mess it is now “because they [the SDLP] done the right thing” in respect of the Peace Process and the Good Friday Agreement. Hume and Mallon sacrificed the SDLP party for peace and an ungrateful electorate dumped them, so it goes.
The truth is that the SDLP’s arrogance in believing that Sinn Féin weren’t capable of providing good, sound political leadership blinded them into thinking that all they had to do was turn up and they’d win. And the aspirations of the nationalist electorate have changed over the years and people are confident in the political changes that have occurred through the 1990s and into this new century. The SDLP missed those changes.
The question that the new SDLP leader will have to answer is how to make the party relevant in the Ireland of today.
Is it capable of taking audacious political initiatives similar to that of Sinn Féin in nominating Martin McGuinness to stand in the Presidential election? Or is the sum total of its ambitions to look over its shoulder at past glories whilst whistling ‘The Way We Were’?

 

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