Sylvia Breaks Her Silence
It's no secret that the North Down MP, Lady Sylvia Hermon, hates giving TV and radio interviews. Unlike other politicians who are always vying for airtime, Lady Sylvia regularly declines invitations to grace our airwaves, calculating that as long as she works hard on the ground for her constituents and enjoys a good relationship with her local newspaper that is all the coverage she needs.
In addition to this general reticence, the Ulster Unionist Tory courtship coincided with the death of her husband, the former Chief Constable Sir Jack Hermon. This is why Lady Sylvia's antipathy towards the Conservatives, an open secret around Westminster, has been hinted at rather than written in bold letters.
Until today. Who would have thought that the expenses row would finally lead to Lady Sylvia breaking her silence (over what appears the largely technical matter of over paid rent)? Then, in an interview with my colleague Gareth Gordon, she railed against the Tories charging for cleaning out their moats and finally declaried that she can't see herself standing as a Conservative and Unionist.
The timing of this intervention couldn't be worse for the Conservative and Unionist Euro election campaign. And it raises big questions about what will happen to the Ulster Unionists in the next Westminster election. Will their only MP Lady Sylvia take the Jim Kilfedder route and stand as an independent unionist?
On the topic of the Conservative Ulster Unionist courtship, Jeffrey Peel is claiming that the row about their joint logo, which led to his removal as a Conservative party officer, was all because the Tory tree was
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