25th April.

Agnew Street, Larne. Across the street from the Catholic Church. Sammy Wilson, outgoing DUP MP for East Antrim. He is also MLA for East Antrim. Made his name in Belfast Council politics …he is a previous Mayor of Belfast. But has latterly carved out a fiefdom in East Antrim.

Previously, a Norn Iron Environment Minister while dismissing Climate Change, he has never been a politician with gravitas. His comic turn at the Annual Conference is much appreciated by the DUP faithful. But he has a nasty side. Referring to a Sinn Féin councillor who was shot in the stomach by loyalists as “Leadbelly” for example.

Yet I notice from his election poster that he is no longer the “enfant terrible” of the DUP. He looks…like us all…older. His star within DUP seems to have waned or maybe he is just satisfied at the prospect of being MP for East Antrim for the rest of his life.