David Cameron is taking a gamble on the Stormont crisis: will it work?

Northern Ireland is in crisis – one anyone familiar with politics here will find eerily familiar. The same faces that dominated news bulletins in the 1980s and 1990s are still in place, albeit slightly more wrinkled and weary. 

But one striking difference is the response, or lack thereof, from David Cameron.  Northern Irish politicians are used to British Prime Ministers immediately flying into Belfast for crisis talks, to stage joint press conferences side by side and attend photo calls with furrowed brows and concerned looks. Yet Cameron has so far dodged any particular involvement in the talks and bluntly refused to concede to the DUP’s demands to suspend Stormont. Instead of attending talks in person, he has been delegating to Conservative MP and Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers who has been attending talks on his behalf. 

DUP leader Peter Robinson last week issued an ultimatum to the Prime Minister demanding that he suspend Stormont from London.