Ulster Unionist Chief Whip Steve Aiken has criticised former Liberal Democrat Leader Paddy Ashdown for repeating the comments that the Prime Minister should ‘never, ever put the country in the hands of an Ulsterman’.
Steve Aiken MLA, himself a senior Royal Navy veteran, said:
“Paddy Ashdown’s sneering and condescending comments are surprising, not least because he was largely brought up in Northern Ireland. I also wonder what his former colleague Lembit Opik makes of it.
“Some of the main leaders in business, in the public sector and in sport and the arts across the UK are from Northern Ireland.
“The statement from the former Liberal Democrat Leader will also come as news to all of the local men and women who are integral to the UK’s armed forces who have had, and continue to have, the safety and future of our country in our hands. If local people are good enough to rise to the top of our Armed Forces, they are good enough to play a role in British politics.
“Paddy Ashdown’s comments were offensive, crass, and totally hypocritical given the willingness of the Liberal Democrats, who were only too keen to jettison some of their core principles, especially over tuition fees, for the tawdry opportunity to share power with Cameron’s Tory Government.”