Minister for Ignorance
I was unaware of the Ulster divide until I was in charge, says Bradley
I didn’t understand ... [that] people who are nationalists don’t vote for unionist parties and vice-versa Karen Bradley
KAREN Bradley was accused of ‘embarrassing’ ignorance on Northern Ireland last night as she admitted not understanding the sectarian divide before being made Ulster Secretary.
In an extraordinary confession, she admitted she did not realise Unionists would not vote for nationalist parties during elections, and vice versa.
Mrs Bradley said it was not until after she was appointed to the crucial Cabinet job in January that she learned about the political situation.
Critics reacted with astonishment that she had reached such a high office without a seemingly basic understanding of the politics of the province.
Her comments were certain to undermine her credibility in Belfast as the Government renewed efforts to restore devolved power- sharing between the warring DUP and Sinn Fein parties.
In an interview with The House magazine, Mrs Bradley said she was unaware that Unionists and nationalists competed for support within their own communities, rather than trying to hoover up the other side’s votes.
The political battles during elections are between the nationalist parties – Sinn Fein and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). On the other side of the divide, the Unionist parties – mainly the DUP and Ulster Unionists – try to win votes off each other.
Mrs Bradley said: ‘I freely admit that, when I started this job, I didn’t understand some of the deepseated and deep-rooted issues there are in Northern Ireland.
‘I didn’t understand things like when elections are fought in Northern Ireland, people who are nationalists don’t vote for Unionist parties and vice-versa. So, the parties fight for election within their own community. The Unionbeen ist parties fight the elections against each other in Unionist communities, and nationalists in nationalist communities.’
Mrs Bradley said it was a ‘very different world’ from her Staffordshire Moorlands constituency where she would campaign to win Labour votes. She added: ‘That is so incredibly different and it’s when you realise that, and you see that, that you can then start to understand some of the things that the politicians say and some of the rhetoric.’
Her blunder was all the more baffling as her teenage years covered some of the most high-profile events of the Troubles. She was 14 when the IRA bombed the Tory conference in Brighton in 1984 and 17 when the terror group murdered 12 in a blast in Enniskillen in 1987.
The Omagh atrocity in 1998, which killed 29, happened when she was 28 – the same year the Good Friday Agreement was signed.
Mrs Bradley served for two years in the Cabinet and before that two years in the Home Office before joining the Northern Ireland Office – both positions in which she is likely to have heard regular briefings on the province. And since last year’s election the Tories have sharing power with Northern Ireland’s DUP politicians.
She was appointed Northern Ireland Secretary in January after James Brokenshire stepped aside for medical reasons.
Labour’s Brexit spokesman Jenny Chapman said: ‘ This is embarrassing from the Northern Ireland Secretary.
‘Given this worrying lack of basic knowledge about Northern Ireland’s history, it’s no wonder the Tories don’t seem to understand the vital importance of preventing a return of a hard border there.’
Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake said: ‘These comments speak volumes about just how much this Government misunderstands people in Northern Ireland.
‘It is no wonder that Tory ministers, sitting in their ivory towers, have made zero progress in these Brexit negotiations towards a solution for the border.’
Mrs Bradley has also faced anger for failing to end the ‘witch-hunt’ of British troops who served in Northern Ireland. Up to 1,000 veterans, now in their 60s and 70s, are being treated as potential murder or manslaughter suspects over historical killings at the height of the IRA’s terrorism campaign.
Mrs Bradley yesterday announced that the pay of Stormont Assembly members’ will be slashed by more than £13,000 – a cut of about 27.5 per cent – because elected members were not performing all their functions.
The legislature in Belfast has not sat since early last year because of an ongoing row that has prevented the appointment of ministers.