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IAN Paisley continues to keep the governments in Dublin and London guessing about his real intentions in relation to sharing power with nationalists in the North. But the 80-year-old DUP leader proved last week that he still knows how to pull a master political stoke. The elevation of his wife Eileen to the House of Lords must surely rank as one of the greatest examples ever of nepotism in Irish and British political history. Imagine the reaction had Tony Blair given his wife Cherie a peerage. Recall the fuss last year when Bertie Ahern gave the nod to Celia Larkin's membership of the Consumer Strategy Agency.
Mrs Paisley was one of three DUP appointments to the House of Lords last week along with former UUP leader David Trimble. Her son Ian junior was quickly out with congratulations on his own website. "Mum is no shrinking violet and will be a certain and sure voice for the Ulster people. Mum's vast experience both in politics and in life will no doubt equip her well for the task ahead. She will be able to bring her wisdom and determination to bear in the interests of the Ulster people, " Eileen Paisley's son wrote.
Apparently she'll be known as Baroness Paisley of St George's after the area she represented on Belfast City Council in the 1960s. Baroness Paisley of No Surrender might be a more apt title.
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YOU ARE HERE: 19 March 2007 / tribune.ie / 2006 / 04 / 16
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