Hefner or Stringfellow?
MPs have spent the day debating a bill intended to implement the deal reached by the DUP and Sinn Fein on policing and justice last November.
Mark Durkan sees the plan to elect a future Justice Minister by a cross community vote as an assault on the system enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement and he has been vociferous in his opposition to the bill.
Expounding on the theme that this was the ninth model for a Justice Ministry legislated for by the government, Mr Durkan recalled having previously accused Peter Hain of displaying more "vacuous models" than the Playboy mogul Hugh Hefner.
Former NIO minister David Cairns reckoned he';d heard the SDLP leader deploy this line on about four previous occasions, insisting that last time it had been deployed the punchline involved Peter Stringfellow.
Although some MPs enjoyed this, others were evidently less enthralled by Mr Durkan's contribution. After the SDLP leader finished, Sir Patrick Cormack implored the Deputy Speaker to insist on more brevity for speakers, so more MPs could get their say during today's truncated debate.
When he got to his feet the First Minister Peter Robinson revealed that he had nearly lost his notes when the steward on his flight had offered to clear "that rubbish away" pointing to the paoers beside him. Mr Robinson thought some MPs might have been relieved if the steward had taken Mr Durkan's notes instead.
Aside from joining the Hefner/Stringfellow debate, David Cairns was interesting on the multiplicity of Stormont departments. Recalling his time dealing with planning officials and planning policy officials from seperate departments, the former minister said the number of departments "makes no sense" and should be revisited soon.
Sinn Fein has sent Alex Maskey to monitor the debate. Presumably sending an MP would be too risky just in case they were tempted to vote by mistake. Another bystander has been the Alliance leader David Ford who visited Westminster fort he day. Given the possibility that he could be a future Justice minister this visit set some tongues wagging, but Mr Ford insists he was just touching base with his Liberal Democrat colleagues.
In relation to this, there were some interesting exchanges between the Liberal Democrat Alastair Carmichael and the DUP. The Lib Dems argued that it was unacceptable for a future Justice Minister to be removed by an Assembly cross community vote. Mr carmichael said tghis would make a future minister vulnerable to a populist mood amongst the Assembly. He pointed out that Sammy Wilson and Caitriona Ruane were both unpopular amongst their opponents but appeared impregnable. He wanted the future Justice Minister tobe just as impregable.
Spelling it out, the Lib Dem spokesman questioned whether it was worth legislating for a system which an Alliance member would not accept. Certainly, whatever Mr Ford's purpose in visiting London, it looked like a proxy negotiation between the Alliance party and the DUP, being conducted via the Liberal Democrats.
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