The Democratic Unionist Party’s decision to act as “fan boys” for United States president Donald Trump is “embarrassing and dangerous”, Northern Ireland Minister for Justice and Alliance Party leader, Naomi Long has said.
“We all know the DUP have a history of making terrible political choices, so their fan-boying for Trump has come as no surprise. There is simply no issue they can’t manage to be on the wrong side of,” she told her party’s annual conference in South Belfast.
Recently, the Democratic Unionist Party leader, Gavin Robinson was guilty, she said, “of parroting the language of “wokery, like some kind of Temu Trump” when he said that 50//50 recruitment of Catholics and Protestants to the Police Service of Northern Ireland is “off the table”.
In her speech, Ms Long was even more sharply critical of the DUP MP, Sammy Wilsons who she dubbed “Poundland Putin”, who is now “peddling the Kremlin’s lines on the war in Ukraine. His decades-old nickname “Red Sammy” has taken on an entirely new, and more sinister meaning”.
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The Alliance Party, along with Sinn Féin, has decided not to go to the White House in Washington for this year’s St Patrick’s visit. In Alliance’s case, the party is “taking a stand” by not accepting an invitation from Mr Trump.
“I respect the right of US citizens to elect whomever they wish as president. I also respect the office of president. However, I do not and will make no pretence of respecting the current office-holder,” she told her conference.
The US has now isolated itself by voting in the United Nations alongside North Korea, Russia and Belarus while “simultaneously behaving provocatively and aggressively towards democratic and long-standing allies like the UK, Canada, Denmark and Europe”.
[ Trump-Zelenskiy clash ‘very unsettling’, says Taoiseach ahead of White House tripOpens in new window ]
The decision to boycott the White House engagement will matter little to Trump, she accepted: “I’m under no illusions that attending or not attending the White House will shift Donald Trump’s approach to governing one iota: given the size of his ego.
“It’s doubtful whether he would even notice if there’s anyone else in the same room as him, never mind politicians from Northern Ireland. And the idea that he could even comprehend something as alien to him as a principled stand, would be fanciful,” she said.
“And how can we engage credibly with someone who values his personal relationship with the Kremlin over the democratic mandate of Volodymyr Zelenskiy and the territorial integrity of Ukraine as a sovereign European nation? We can’t. And more than that, we shouldn’t.”
The UK and Irish Governments have an important role to play in standing up to Putin and ensuring any ceasefire deal is fair, she said.
“We know that when democracy is threatened anywhere, it is threatened everywhere.”
Meanwhile, the Democratic Unionist Party continually spreads “a false narrative” in a bid to create division between farmers and environmentalists, Stormont’s Agriculture Minister, Alliance Party MLA, Andrew Muir said.
“The reality is very, very different on the ground,” said Mr Muir, speaking at the Alliance Party’s annual conference in South Belfast on Saturday, “We’re going to give people hope, we’re going to turn the tide on Lough Neagh.”
