Joel Keys, the young loyalist who the Loyalist Communities Council put up to speak at the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee is clearly an articulate lad with something to say. Just why he is saying it on behalf of the Loyalist Communities Council (LCC) is lost on this writer.
I shared the obvious incredulity of the Committee Chairman, Simon Hoare MP, listening to him speak. Just how North Korea and Labour’s opposition to “nukes’ had anything to do with the Northern Ireland Protocol was mind boggling gibberish from someone so completely out of his depth. But this is not a reflection on this young man.
The responsibility for his lampooning and ridicule lies firmly and squarely at the door of those who chose and encouraged Keys to display his lack of nous and knowledge as a spokesperson in a political forum. This was akin to getting an under age player to line out for a game of senior hurling.
It was a brutal thing to do. Cynical too.
I am 110 per cent with South Belfast MP Claire Hanna in believing the LCC should not have been given this prestigious platform by a Westminster Committee. The LCC has no mandate. They certainly have no locus on the NI Protocol.
The cacophonous loyalist veteran, Jim Wilson, was at his boisterous best. “Give us a route map out of paramilitarism Claire’ he barked at the SDLP MP.
Twenty three years after the so called loyalist ceasefires, Wilson should have found that route.
Abstaining from paramilitarism is not exactly like trying to find a way out of the Pisani Labyrinth. It is not rocket science just focus on education, employment and enterprise.
Wilson is the perennial angry loyalist who comes across as the Victor Meldrew of the East.
If loyalist communities feel disenfranchised or disengaged from the political classes then they should direct their ire at those who claim to represent them in the DUP or TUV. They should not masquerade their true frustrations by lazily creating a Fenian or EU bogey man to blame. The protocol is the clumsy outworking of Brexit. It’s a square box being fitted into a round hole. But it does have economic benefits for Northern Ireland.
Brexit was not created or supported by the SDLP, SF, Alliance, Green Party, Ulster Unionists or the Irish government. It is owned completely by the enthusiastic cheerleaders in the DUP, TUV and the Tories. As you sow, so will you reap.
The truth is too many loyalist paramilitaries have become accustomed to the lifestyles afforded by by their nefarious activities. Others want the government to wean them off by way of cheque book diplomacy.
The LCC has completely failed in the original objectives set for it. So rather accept its failures the leaders are attempting to gain relevance by adopting more traditional fear tactics to rally wider unionist support. It’s a strategy which will fail.
Jim Wilson and David Campbell are relics of another era. Their day is gone.
But Joel Keys is a different matter. He has a future. The inequalities he perceives within his community need addressed. But those inequalities are social, economic and educational. In that, he and other young loyalists can become strong political advocates for advancing their community needs.
But he needs to reflect on the import of what he actually said to the NI Affairs Committee. Keys told the committee: “I am not sure if and when violence will be the answer. I'm just saying I wouldn't rule it off the table.” He added: “I am no fan of violence. But I think it has to be an absolute last resort”.
Violence is never an inevitable answer to a political problem. I would remind Joel Keys of the words of the late Senator George McGovern who said: “I am fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in.”
