Stone's Rambo act fails to halt progress at Stormont writes Gerry Moriarty, Northern Editor
Struggling to see through the fog, discord and confusion at Stormont yesterday what did we get but Michael Stone, the Sequel - Rambo II - fully armed, bursting his considerable bulk through the revolving doors of Parliament Buildings.
Medals of valour please for the security guards - especially the woman who wrestled the handgun away from Stone - who blocked him from the Assembly chamber where the Rev Ian Paisley was testing the reporting and interpretive skills of the journalists up in the press gallery.
Having skulked behind a gravestone in Milltown Cemetery 18 years ago as Stone's bullets were flying and his hand grenades were exploding all around, and as three men were being brutally murdered by him, the portals of Stormont were as near as one would want this self-confessed and convicted multiple-killer to reach.
He's murdered before, so why wouldn't he murder again? Yesterday was farcical on occasions, but at least nobody's dead. That's the first and most important judgment to make about proceedings.
Another comment to be made is that not so long ago what happened yesterday was the daily violent grind of life in Northern Ireland. So, some allowances can be made for the fact that inside the Assembly chamber matters bordered on, and sometimes went beyond, the theatre of the absurd. But at least it was politics - well, Northern Ireland politics.
The issue was simple: for Dr Paisley to indicate by some highly-qualified use of the Queen's English that yes, subject to Sinn Féin fully endorsing and supporting the police and law and order, he would be first minister come scheduled devolution day on March 26th.
We listened carefully to Dr Paisley in the chamber. He said the situation had not been reached where he could be nominated as first minister. But he followed and concluded with what, we think, was the key fudged phrase required by the governments, that "when commitments are delivered [ by Sinn Féin] the DUP will enter government".
Was that, we wondered, an indicative conditional yes, no, or maybe from Dr Paisley to becoming Stormont first minister, following in a long line from the likes of Carson and Craig, and those he helped destroy, Faulkner and Trimble? It was a "yes", according to Tony Blair and Peter Hain who work to their own political lexicon: therefore the process could move on.
We were in Monty Python territory. One of its theme tunes was, Spam, spam, spam. Here we had "Fudge, fudge, fudge". But, if truth be told, that's what was expected. It may be frustrating and embarrassing, especially for Mr Hain, but it was a case of needs must; the political diet would improve given a little more time, was the view of London and Dublin.
Yet, amid all the confusion Dr Paisley found the time to issue a statement through the Press Association outside the chamber that "if policing and all of the other outstanding issues that are before us are settled" he "would accept the first minister's nomination provided the election results are favourable". That seems clear.
But then what was being muttered about in recent weeks became apparent: the first tangible signs of internal DUP dissent, a seeming challenge to Dr Paisley's conditional preparedness to take high office with Martin McGuinness. Twelve Assembly members, the hardliners so to speak, including MPs Nigel Dodds, Rev William McCrea, Gregory Campbell and David Simpson, appeared to contradict what Dr Paisley told PA. They said that nothing was said in the chamber that could be construed as "an indication that they can imply shadow, designate or any other status to anyone in relation to the office of first and deputy first minister." Some suspect that this is the DUP playing a tactical "hard cop/soft cop" routine, but well-placed sources say no, there are differences.
One senior party source, however, said the bottom line was that Dr Paisley dictated policy. "What's important here is who is leader, and it's Dr Paisley." On the day of St Andrews Dr Paisley said he kept his pledges, and despite all the turmoil of yesterday, the governments appear to believe he is still holding to that pledge.
So, it's onto the final big issue: policing. If the DUP can stay united the focus will shift to Sinn Féin. There are some signs that Sinn Féin wants to play the issue long, perhaps even delaying an ardfheis beyond January 30th when the election campaign officially begins. Indeed, Sinn Féin MLA Francis Brolly was quoted in the Swiss paper, Le Temps, yesterday as saying it could take until the summer before an ardfheis was called. It's difficult to see how the St Andrews Agreement could survive such procrastination.
But that's next business, beginning at the Programme for Government committee meeting at Stormont on Monday. Yesterday in the dramatic wake of Michael "Rambo" Stone and fudge politics, the trick was for the process and the politicians to survive to the next stage, which they did. Just.