James McNaney and Liam Tunney
Today at 19:14
The last time someone not named Ian Paisley was the MP for North Antrim, the UK was yet to join the European Economic Community, the Troubles were just a year old, and colour television was the latest thing for most households.
A member of the Paisley family has held the seat for more than five decades, with ‘Junior’ holding it since 2010, when he saw off Jim Allister’s challenge with more than 12,000 votes to spare.
A very different Ballymena to that of 1970 woke up to the news on Friday morning that the Paisley era was at an end.
Mr Allister has entered Parliament for the first time in what the TUV leader described as a “political earthquake of seismic proportions”.
A dejected Mr Paisley, who had a 12,721 majority in 2019, and enjoyed the support of Nigel Farage despite Reform UK’s election deal with TUV, requested a partial recount before the result was declared shortly before 7am.
Mr Allister led a crowd of his supporters from the count area to the podium hand-in-hand with his wife as a number of party members held a Union flag aloft behind him.
He said North Antrim had chosen an “alternative course which signals a number of things; amongst those is a very clear indication that the unionist people of North Antrim will not be taken for granted, and certainly will not be taken for fools, because the DUP, just a few weeks ago, sought to hoodwink every unionist in this province when they pretended that the Donaldson deal had got rid of the Irish Sea border and restored our place in the United Kingdom”.
He added: “Those were brazen falsehoods, and the people of North Antrim called them out as such in this campaign.
“Therein is the reason why I am now the Member of Parliament for North Antrim.”
Reflecting on his loss, Mr Paisley said: “The tides of life ebb and flow as we all know.
“This is certainly not the script I would have written for tonight, as most of you would accept.
“Life is made up of many chapters and I embrace the next chapter as happily as I embraced the previous chapters.”
Mr Paisley blew a kiss over his shoulder as he left the count.
The aftershocks were slow to reach Ballymena town centre on Friday morning.
You could be forgiven for not knowing an election had just ended.
There were very few candidate posters around the town, and not many of the conversations being held were about the poll.
“Couldn’t care less,” was the verdict behind the bar in The Slemish.
“Not bothered in the slightest, I’m in till this evening and back in on Monday.”
A customer in Fairhill shopping centre said they had “switched it on last night for a few seconds”.
For Dessie Blackadder, editor of the Ballymena Guardian, a subdued mood characterised the whole campaign.
“I’ve been doing local elections since I was 18. This campaign was one of the most lacklustre I have come across,” he said.
“It’s been a sort of throwaway campaign, there didn’t seem to be a great deal of passion or enthusiasm for it on this side of the Irish Sea, but it has produced these shocking results.”
The biggest shock of the night was at the count centre early where Ian Paisley cut a dejected figure on the stage, standing between Mr Allister and Sinn Féin MLA Philip McGuigan.
It is the end of a political dynasty, it would appear.
Dynasties aren’t meant to be part of democracies, and yet they are. There are the Kennedys in America, the Gandhis in India, and there are the Paisleys in North Antrim.
Mr Blackadder said the Paisleys have been a “monolith”, where the words “North Antrim” were usually followed by “Paisley”.
He added: “They were part and parcel of the entire constituency throughout that time, starting with Ian Paisley senior as the young revolutionary taking on the ‘Big House’ unionists, getting involved with the working class loyalist/unionist vote.
“The son came on board; he went through, he paid his dues, he kept a Paisley flag flying until this election.
“This result has flabbergasted everybody — 99.99% assumed Ian Paisley would be returned, perhaps with a lesser majority… he might get a kick in the shins.
“But to be actually booted out, that’s the thing that has stunned everybody.”
Charlie, of Charlie’s Bar in the town centre, agreed Paisley’s loss was “a shock for everybody”.
He wasn’t getting excited about the new era, however.
“North Antrim was 100 years behind the times, now it’s a 1,000 years behind,” he said.
He added that Paisley had not been as effective an advocate for the constituency as his father.
He said: “There’s a feeling that if his father had been alive, some of the big businesses that have left in recent years wouldn’t have gone.”
Ballymena has certainly had economic challenges in the past decade.
The Michelin factory closed in 2018. Gallaher’s tobacco factory shut up shop the year before.
Retail and other businesses in the town centre have bounced back well in recent years.
The streets were busy on Friday morning, with plenty of trade in the many cafes and restaurants.
Ballymena Chamber of Commerce has described the local economy as “healthy and vibrant”.
Its chief executive, Mark Wiggins, said: “During the last five years, despite the challenges of the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis, Ballymena Chamber has grown by 55% and we have businesses representing all sections of the local economy as members, from young people starting a business from their home, to some of Northern Ireland’s largest employers.”
Economic concerns were not the only thing voters mentioned as issues. Paisley’s 30-day suspension from the House of Commons in 2018 damaged his standing in the constituency.
The sanction was put in place after his failure to declare two luxury family holidays paid for by the Sri Lankan government.
“He did a lot more for Sri Lanka than Ballymena,” was Charlie’s take on the ousted MP.
Mr Blackadder pointed to how the scandal had been used in online memes, and locally circulated postcards showing Paisley on a beach.
Multiple people mentioned the resignation of former DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson as a key issue in why they changed their vote.
Donaldson resigned after being charged with historical sexual offences.
He strenuously denies the accusations.
Nobody the Belfast Telegraph spoke to mentioned the Irish Sea border as an issue, although there is evidence of strong feelings about it.
Nearby Broughshane has a sign saying the “loyalist” village “will never accept an Irish sea border”.
People there mentioned a range of issues affecting their vote, including Donaldson’s resignation.
The constituency now has a new name representing them in London.
James, of James McNeill Hardware in Broughshane, said he was shocked to see Paisley lose.
He said he hoped all the MPs in the new Parliament “would have an understanding of ordinary people’s lives, and “keep private aspirations out” of their work.
“I would like to see them agree on the everyday running of things,” Mr McNeill added.
Sinn Fein’s Philip McGuigan finished third with 7,714 votes — an increase of just over 1,000 for the party.
Alliance candidate Sian Mulholland polled 4,488, lower than Patricia O’Lynn’s tally in the last election.
Jackson Minford of the UUP got 3,901 votes, and Helen Maher of the SDLP picked up 1,661.
Aontu candidate Ráichéal Mhic Niocaill polled 451, while Independent Tristan Morrow had 136.
Turnout was down by around 2% to 55.37%.
by columboscoat
3 comments
>Dynasties aren’t meant to be part of democracies, and yet they are. There are the Kennedys in America, the Gandhis in India, and there are the Paisleys in North Antrim.
This deserves an award. Might be the most hyperbolic sentance I’ve ever read.
If only his dad was still around to see what a failure ian Jr is
Apart from wee ian being void of all substance and presence, the good thing to take from this, is that this parasite (known for being one of the largest expenses claimants on the tax payer consistently), can now be detached from our teats,
But if you pull a pig from a trough does it cease to be swine. . .
A Reform trough beckons no doubt.
Bye, cunt