To think if an MP said this about any other group of people he would be sacked?

[Cafog]

Jim Allister of the TUV - during his interview on BBC’s Sunday Politics programme, he stated that Chief Constable Jon Boutcher should have "sanitised the Garvaghy Road and escorted" the Orangemen down it.

AIBU to think this is absolutely disgusting language, and if he'd said it about Muslims or Jews for example there would be complete uproar, but when it's Catholic Nationalists the backlash is lukewarm to say the least? Im aware there has been some condemnation, and hes tried to defend his comments but he needs to go. There's no place for hate speech like this from anyone never mind an elected MP.

Sorry if there's been a thread on this already.

What are 'orange men?' Who is is meant to be referring to?

Well the Greens have stated that any Jew attending a synagogue that remembers Israel its prayers-ie most of them-is a racist. Lots of people seem to be totally fine with that. The Overton window has totally shifted on political discourse. But Northern Ireland has always been a country of .....strong views

It has you're right, but hes an MP in Westminster

YANBU in the slightest.

Did not know this about the Green's either

Not familiar with the contexts.

protests in London normally have significant police presence to escort them, and if there are two protests going on (often a right wing one and stand up to racism one) they are usually told where they can march so they are separated.

Members of the Orange Order in Northern Ireland.

Most people are really not OK with the Greens motion. It's lost their leader the by-election. The Overton window may have shifted to the extreme left within the green party but within society people have become emboldened to express far right views more. The window has widened, not shifted left. I may be agreeing with you here- I can't quite tell!

Its not about that
The orange order are a group who specifically exclude catholics. Excommunicate members who marry catholics. They want to walk down a VERY SPECIFIC road which houses many catholic families to make a point.

Orangemen of the Loyal Orders that are trying to march down Garvaghy Toad after 28 years of being denied by the parades commission in NI. I'm not going to debate the rights and wrongs of that particular argument there's a thread already running for that and I'm not articulate enough. But this has sickened me to my stomach.

I live in an area with a Green council and there is a lot of enthusiastic support for it, I can tell you. 8,000 still voted green in Holborn which I find deeply distressing.

What I mean is that people feel more comfortable voicing ever more extreme views, be it the absolute swivel-eyed batshittery that the Greens farted out at their conference or Rupert Lowe's grim online spewings about Somalis/immigrants/gays/whoever. His party is gaining a very alarming toehold in certain constituencies.

YABU for suggesting that he can be sacked.

MPs can only be recalled under a recall petition.

With regards to his comments you need to understand that neither side ever covers themselves in glory in how they behave amd they deliberately go out of their way to be as controversial as possible to garner support from their communities. The Sinn Fein MPs among others were breaking the law by blocking the road. Perhaps they should be sacked too. They won't so I wouldn't get too excited about anything that is said.

Well Michelle O'Neill will have to survive a vote of no confidence. Who initiates a recall petition?

The Garvaghey Road residents did not ask for this intrusion after 28 years.

Also he is a barrister so frequently uses over eloquent language that the average man on the street wouldn't use. The term sanitise is something that the courts and police would use about public order but of course when the working class people hear it they think of genocide.

Did he say it deliberately to piss them off knowing that the MPs on the other side are more working class? Probably

The MPs own constituents initiate it.

In London if you want to protest you get told where you can go. You aren’t allowed to deviate from the route agreed with the police.

is this not the case in Northern Ireland?

I think what he said was outrageous but I’m not sure MNs is the right forum

Yes but not for this. It’s only possible if convicted of a crime, or suspended from parliament by the standards committee.

Especially given a few people in this thread don't seem to know anything about Northern Ireland!! They don't know what an Orangeman is or what the context is, which is pretty poor if they are British.

It is too complex to be fully discussed and articulated on AIBU and will only result in a bunch of mumsnet users slagging off both communities in NI. Pointless thread too as MPs cant be sacked by mumsnet users in GB.

Both communities have been through a lot and overcome a lot but an election is coming so the politicians are getting their ducks in a row.

Undoubtedly it was also a little tongue in cheek given that any time the protestant community protest anything the police bring out water cannons and literally do "sanitise" the people off the streets. So he was digging at the double standards.

I was about to say- blimey the complete lack of interest in NI in the rest of the UK is incredible. I suppose in some ways people not growing up with The Troubles being in the news every day is a good thing.
@Octavia64 The march has been banned automatically for 28 years. This year someone challenged the rubber stamping of the ban so a small march was allowed, but the Orange Order are an extreme Protestant order and the Garvachy Road is a Catholic area. The families living there threatened to blockade it so it's been banned again by the NI secretary.

Yes you are correct. He has to be found guilty of something first before his constituents can even elect to have him recalled. But it will only be his own constituents that will be able to vote on it....and they won't recall him.

An MP cannot be sacked. So, yes.

I wonder if those who don’t seem to know about all this are quite a bit younger. I was shocked at not understanding the references too! The Troubles and the related issues and politics were very much the defining story of my teenage years. It was front page news every week in the UK (I’m English) and so for those born in the 70s or early 80s, I’d guess everyone knows what Orangemen are. I’d say that if a person was still a child or very young teen in 1998 when the Good Friday agreement was signed, they might not know so much…