DURING the latest period of upheaval at Stormont, one of the key questions has been whether the priority for some prominent unionists is either actively pursuing the constitutional debate with nationalists or enthusiastically taking lumps out of each other.

After the events of recent days, there can be little doubt that the latter is firmly the case, and we can expect the exchanges to intensify even further in the approach to an Assembly election, which is still seven months away.

Many people will have watched The View on BBC1 last Thursday with incredulity over the level of animosity which was on display during a rare engagement involving the leaders of all three main unionist parties, as Jim Allister of the TUV vehemently went after the DUP’s Gavin Robinson in the studio, leaving Jon Burrows of the Ulster Unionists struggling to make an impact on a video link from Taiwan.

I happened to be a matter of yards away, on a panel of commentators who were struck by the intensity of it all, and, while I’m sure that the three gentlemen, unlike very occasionally your columnist, do not frequent licenced premises, it felt close to the verbal equivalent of a brawl at closing time.

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