Ian Paisley Jr’s Sri Lankan Beach Holiday: On Mediocrity, High Costs & Public Disregard


Paisley’s Sri Lankan sojourn provides insights into the mismanagement of Sri Lankan foreign policyunder the Rajapaksa administration [Dec 2005-January 2015]. As this writer has repeatedly argued, shady partnerships with controversial politicians representing socially conservative political parties should not have any place whatsoever in foreign policy praxis. In the end, the luxury trips to Sri Lanka, the sun holidays and lobbying with Paisley Jr, a few other British Conservative MPs and peers, and politicos sharing similar ideologies in other countries did not bring Sri Lanka a single foreign policy victory. Foreign affairs mismanagement, and accommodating space for highly incompetent individuals to manage foreign policy, happened to be the key factors that led to the ultimate downfall of the Rajapaksa administration in early 2015.
The Paisley case is no coincidence, and its unfolding says a lot about Paisley Jr and his party, the Democratic Unionist Party, one of the most regressive, socially conservative, misogynist, and to put it simply ‘backward’ parties in Western Europe. The DUP is the main obstacle that prevents the extension of progressive Westminster legislation to Northern Ireland. The best example is the 2013 Marriage [Same Sex Couples] Act, which does not apply to Northern Ireland, primarily due to DUP opposition.

The Paisley Jr Recall Petition: A Failure
A ‘recall petition’, to oust Paisley Jr and call for a by-election in his constituency of North Antrim, was put in place as soon as the controversy broke in London.
It was reported earlier this week that Paisley Jr’s star was good.
The recall petition fell short of the 10 per cent of electorate signatures required to force a by-election. In Paisley Jr’s constituency of North Antrim, this means a total of 7,543 signatures. The petition fell short of a mere 444 signatures, enabling Paisley Jr to avoid a by-election and retain his Westminster seat. The announcement came from Northern Ireland’s Chief Electoral Office Virginia McVea on 20thSeptember 2018.