AN ATTEMPT by the DUP to have a husband and wife elected in the forthcoming British general election has further heightened the rivalry between the party and the Ulster Unionists.
The decision by Mr Reg Empey of the Ulster Unionists (UUP) to challenge the sitting DUP MP Mr Peter Robinson, in East Belfast was yesterday met by a swift riposte. Mr Robinson's wife Iris announced that she will now challenge the Ulster Unionist MP, Mr John Taylor, in his Strangford constituency.
Mrs Robinson, a former mayor of Castlereagh, was confident about her prospects in Strangford, which Mr Taylor, the UUP deputy leader, has held for the past 14 years. "Mr Taylor's days at Westminster are coming to a close. The electorate has caught him on," she said.
Both parties maintain that, irrespective of the victor, Strangford and East Belfast will remain in unionist hands.
Certainly in Strangford, either Mr Taylor or Mrs Robinson should win, although with a split unionist vote Alliance believes it has a good chance in East Belfast.
In the last Westminster election Mr Taylor, with over 19,000 votes, defeated the DUP candidate, Mr Sammy Wilson, by almost 9,000 votes. However, as Mrs Robinson pointed out, in the Forum election last May the UUP polled only 963 votes more than the DUP.
Mrs Robinson believes she can further eat into the UUP vote and oust Mr Taylor. "The Forum election result shows that Taylor's vote is sliding and the DUP is growing," she said.
She also accused "Mr Taylor and his colleagues" of reaching agreements at the multi party talks which they will not publish until after the election. "After the election they will capitulate to Dublin, the SDLP and Sinn Fein/IRA," Mrs Robinson added.
The UUP in Strangford was dismissive, if not contemptuous, of her claims. "Mr Taylor will not be responding in kind to the personal abuse and attacks by Mrs Robinson. He ignores such attacks, be they from the DUP or the IRA," the party said in a statement from the Strangford constituency headquarters.
"This is a vicious attack on Mr Taylor by the DUP. As Sammy Wilson learned in the last general election, Strangford voters have no time for the personal abuse and invective expressed by Iris Robinson. Her claims are totally unfounded and inaccurate," the statement added.
By agreement the UUP had left East Belfast to Mr Robinson to prevent a split unionist voter handing the seat to the Alliance leader, Lord Alderdice.
However, as Lord Alderdice cannot contest the seat because he is a member of the House of Lords Mr Empey has argued that the Alliance party no longer poses a serious threat.
Alliance contends that its candidate, Mr Jim Hendron, a founder member of the party and brother of the SDLP MP, Dr Joe Hendron, has a realistic chance.
In the Forum election the DUP with 11,270 votes, out polled the UUP by 2,462 votes. But an additional factor in East Belfast is the possibility of tactical voting involving nationalist and moderate unionist voters, who might change allegiance in favour of Mr Empey over Mr Robinson.
