Phil Flanagan

Michelle Gildernew and Fermanagh/South Tyrone: “I am honoured to have been selected by South Tyrone.”

Pete Baker on February 20, 2016, 5:31 pm

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[But not Fermanagh and South Tyrone? – Ed] No. She tried that. It didn’t work. So the Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle invented a constituency for her. Sinn Féin’s attempts to rewrite the past clearly have no time limit. Witness the party’s shenanigans over candidate selection in Fermanagh/South Tyrone for this year’s Northern Ireland Assembly election. The Ard Chomhairle was forced to re-run their selection convention in Fermanagh/South Tyrone following allegations of unaccounted-for votes which saw former-MP, former-MLA, and current Ard Chomhairle member, …

A tiny insight into how Sinn Fein MLAs make their huge donations to the party?

Mick Fealty on February 17, 2016, 9:18 am

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If you missed this, it’s worth noting in passing… Fermanagh-South Tyrone MLA Phil Flanagan told the High Court last week that he gets to keep only £2,000 a month of his £48,000-a-year assembly salary and that people within Sinn Féin “have access” to his bank account. Mr Flanagan made the claim to support his case for not having enough money to pay substantial libel damages to former Ulster Unionist leader Tom Elliott. The Sinn Féin MLA is challenging Stormont’s former …

High Court awards Elliot £48,750 damages [plus costs] for Flanagan libel

Pete Baker on February 3, 2016, 12:24 pm

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Whilst waiting for the Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle to ratify his re-selection as a candidate in Fermanagh/South Tyrone, at the second time of trying, notorious tweeter Phil Flanagan, MLA, has discovered the cost of his “grossly defamatory” libel against former UUP leader, Tom Elliot, then MLA, now MP for FST. As the BBC reports The High Court in Belfast has awarded almost £50k in damages to a former Ulster Unionist leader over a defamatory message posted on Twitter. Mr Justice Stephens …

Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle may rescind Michelle Gildernew deselection

David McCann on February 3, 2016, 9:56 am

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John Manley in today’s Irish News reports that Sinn Fein’s ruling body might over-turn the decision of the Fermanagh/South Tyrone convention last Sunday to deselect former MP, Michelle Gildernew. Manley writes; The party’s ard chomhairle is due to meet on Saturday February 13 to ratify the result of Sunday’s Fermanagh-South Tyrone selection convention but party sources have indicated that the outcome is far from a formality. The convention was re-run after an anomaly appeared between the number of delegates present …

Phil Flanangan re-selected in re-run convention, Michelle Gildernew not so much…

Pete Baker on February 1, 2016, 1:08 am

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David noted the result of the re-run Sinn Féin selection convention for Fermanagh/South Tyrone. But, interestingly, given the allegation of unaccounted-for additional votes for Michelle Gildernew in the first selection convention [see comment zone] which promoted her above Phil Flanagan at the time, that re-run has seen notorious tweeter Phil Flanagan re-selected by the party, along with fellow sitting MLA Sean Lynch, and Councillor Sean Feeley. Neither the renewed candidate Bronwyn McGahan, MLA, nor former MLA, former MP, and current member of the Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle, …

Phil Flanagan returns with Michelle Gildernew losing out

David McCann on January 31, 2016, 10:40 pm

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The Fermanagh/South Tyrone branch of Sinn Fein held their second selection convention tonight after the party’s Ard Chomhairle ordered another convention after the first chose, Michelle Gildernew, Sean Lynch and John Feeley. However, in a slight shock, Phil Flanagan has returned with Feeley and Lynch as his running mates. The former MP and minister, Michelle Gildernew lost out along with the current MLA, Bronwyn McGahan. The odd thing about this ticket is that it appears to have no constituency balance …

Second Chance at Re-Selection for Sinn Féin’s Phil Flanagan – Updated

Pete Baker on January 30, 2016, 3:54 pm

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Sinn Féin’s other notorious tweeter, Phil Flanagan, MLA, may be facing a sizeable bill for libelling the UUP’s Tom Elliot, but the party’s central office has given him a second chance at continuing his political career. He was deselected by his party constituency organisation on 13 December last year, but earlier this month the party’s Ard Chomhairle decided to re-run the selection process in Fermanagh/South Tyrone. On 22 January, The Impartial Reporter noted Mr. Flanagan refused to comment when contacted by this newspaper, …

NI Assembly Insurers Refuse to Cover Sinn Féin’s Phil Flanagan for Compensation and Costs Awarded in Tom Elliot Libel Case

Pete Baker on January 9, 2016, 8:48 pm

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It’s worth noting to begin with that that refusal is in accordance with advice given to Jack Peel, Deputy Head of Finance, NI Assembly in March 2011 by Karen McLaverty, Vice President, Marsh Ltd, who provide the Assembly insurance broking and risk management services. Nineteen months after libelling the former UUP leader, Tom Elliot, then an MLA, now MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone [since May 2015], the recently deselected Sinn Féin MLA, Phil Flanagan, appeared in Belfast High Court yesterday where he recognised the …

Phil Flanagan deselected for next year’s Assembly elections…

Mick Fealty on December 15, 2015, 2:32 pm

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So Phil Flanagan leaves the Assembly at the next election after being deselected by his party in Lisnaskea on Sunday. He was one of the party’s highest profile young bloods. From the get go he seemed ambitious to speak out on social issues, in ways which did not always endear him to the party leadership. It’s not at all clear why he was deselected. Michelle Gildernew comes in courtesy of Bronwyn McGahan MLA who it now appears was only keeping Ms G’s seat …

John Coyle, Phil Flanagan and the herd mentality

David McCann on April 3, 2015, 12:32 pm

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The View held a debate in Fermanagh/South Tyrone last night and the SDLP candidate who is not quite so new to politics as first suspected and was naturally nervous did not have a good night. And, who could blame him? He is running in the most marginal seat in the UK and he is up against two political veterans in Michelle Gildernew and Tom Elliott. Trying to get heard above the din is always going to be difficult but we …

Hamilton calls time on Speaking Clock at Stormont

David McCann on November 28, 2014, 2:20 pm

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If you don’t follow Sinn Fein’s Phil Flanagan on Twitter you should and for no other reason than he asks the most under the radar assembly questions you can think of. Today he got a response to a question he posed to the Finance Minister, Simon Hamilton a few weeks ago on the cost of Stormont’s talking clock. Yes, this is a clock that you ring up and it tells you the time. Courtesy of Phil, this is how much …

“If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bulls*!t.”

Mick Fealty on October 8, 2014, 3:55 pm

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So if you think these recent backroom changes in Sinn Fein have no visible effects, you might be right. Dropping Leo Green and then losing Vincent Parker (both of whom were highly rated by those outwith the party), may have not changed what happened to poor Phil Flanagan yesterday when he showed up on Nolan with a bat already thoroughly smashed to bits by his own team captain: listen to ‘Last month, the DUP got the Nolan Show montage treatment. …

McCann meets….Arlene Foster MLA #dup13

David McCann on November 24, 2013, 11:59 am

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I took a trip up to the DUP Conference yesterday to interview some of the key figures within the party. I spoke with several Ministers namely Simon Hamilton, Edwin Poots and Arlene Foster. Just after her conference speech I spoke with the Enterprise Minister and possible future leader, Arlene Foster. We spoke about a variety of issues from the European elections to her feud with Phil Flanagan MLA and her shift from the UUP to the DUP. Below are some …