Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi there,
There is an issue with role permissions that is being worked on at the moment.
If you are having trouble with access or permissions on regional forums please post here to get access: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365403/you-do-not-have-permission-for-that#latest

Comments about SDLP leader Margaret Ritchie in Wikileaks cable.

  • 01-06-2011 11:46pm
    #1
    Bottle_of_Smoke
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,770 ✭✭✭


    Pretty comical stuff. It basically said exactly what everyone thinks about Ritchie

    I feel really sorry for her. I think she's a great politician from a great party but she just isn't a leader.
    Margaret Ritchie was branded “wooden” and burdened with “an unpleasant public speaking voice” by a senior US official.

    A leaked cable profiling the SDLP leader also describes how she has appeared “stilted” and remarks on her “sometimes bumpy public appearances”.

    The unflattering description is contained in a confidential dispatch written by Kamala Lakhdhir, the American Consul General in Belfast.

    It was compiled in the wake of Ms Ritchie’s election as party leader in February 2010, when she defeated Alasdair McDonnell in a ballot of party members.

    In the cable, Ms Lakhdhir concludes she has a “lack of business acumen” and reports doubts over whether she has the “political muscle or innovative ideas” to revive the SDLP.

    The comments will raise fresh questions over Ms Ritchie's leadership, particularly after a damaging election campaign which saw the party lose two Assembly seats.

    Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/wikileaks-us-official-margaret-ritchie-stilted-wooden-with-an-unpleasant-voice-16005996.html#ixzz1O4Q61DZJ

    I hope she steps down. Aside from the lack of charisma her performance as leader is terrible. She's claiming she wants an end to double jobbing but she herself is an MLA and MP. The man she reappointed as a minister of the executive last week has just announced he's running in the West Belfast bye-election. If anyone watched the GE debates last year she was appalling. Kept letting Adams get to her and made a show of herself.

    Its a pity she didn't last a bit longer all the same because their newly elected south Belfast MLA Conail McDevitt is IMO the best politician in the Assembly but is just building his public profile now. He's calm and straight talking with a likable Dublin accent which goes down well with nationalists. His non confrontational approach to issues would appeal to moderate unionists too.

    He would be far more likely to regrow the party if he took over.


Advertisement