Political Pets
|16:14 UK time, Monday, 13 August 2007
My postbox contained a rather unusual invitation this morning: to enter my dog in the Westminster Dog of the Year Competition. It seems the competition is not just open to the pets of Parliamentarians, but also to the pooches of political journalists. Alas, neither I, nor any of my BBC political unit colleagues, owns a dog. But I believe a number of our MPs have pooches. I remember being rather fearful of Ian Paisley's dog, Bridget (can't remember what kind of dog it was but it was bigger than me!). And I've noticed on occasion that Gerry Adams has brought his little floppy eared dog, Oschgur to Stormont.
But it seems unlikely Oschgur will get the chance to compete - given Sinn Fein's refusal to claim its Westminster seats. Asked about the prospects of Oschgur joining the competition to vy for a trophy and the chance to join the Good citizen Dog Scheme at Crufts next March, a Sinn Fein source sniffed: "I don't think Gerry's dog would be interested."
PS the same Sinn Fein source insisted the party's MLAs did not snub the Interparliamentary Tournament in London last week when some of our MLAs attended a charity football event. SF, claimed the source, just didn't know about it.
I'm 
