ANALYSIS: "NIE PODDAMY Sie!" That's "No Surrender!" in Polish, a phrase you would expect - but a language you might not - at a DUP annual conference. It was uttered by Daniel Konieczny to the delight of most of the delegates at the afternoon session of the conference in the Armagh City Hotel on Saturday, and to the bewilderment of some. The DUP is not quite the party it was.
Daniel is secretary of the Polish Association of Northern Ireland who works for the 30,000 Polish immigrants living in the North, and who was persuaded by Lagan Valley MP Jeffrey Donaldson to join the party. He enlisted because "the DUP supports the rights of workers and their families who have made their home in Northern Ireland".
Daniel is from Wroclaw and the only Catholic who has declared his membership of the party that we could think of.
This was a "watershed conference", according to DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds. It certainly was different. While Daniel might have been a surprise new presence at the conference the huge absence was that of Ian Paisley.
He turned up for the private DUP dinner in the hotel on Friday night but was away in Liverpool for the main business on Saturday. Paisley may be transforming himself into a Margaret Thatcher-type figure: allowing the new leader a free run but on hand should he be needed in any times of anxiety or doubt to electrify the party with his unique style of high-flown pulpit politics.
This conference was distinctive from Sinn Féin, Ulster Unionist or SDLP gatherings - indeed from most political conferences on these islands - in that not one "ordinary" delegate spoke from the floor. The agenda and the speakers were so carefully stage-managed that virtually all the party speakers apart from Daniel - and he can't be described as "ordinary" - were DUP Assembly members, some of them doubling as MPs.
What's more, there was no Sammy Wilson; the Minister for the Environment was absent at the Royal Irish Regiment homecoming parade in Larne. So, there was no knockabout, none of his annual one-man comedy routine to provide some light relief from the grimmer aspects of the conference. Is the DUP aiming for gravitas? More change.
Peter Robinson in his leader's speech and later his wife Iris during the health address spoke tender Mills and Boon words of mutual love and admiration, with the First Minister also deadpanning how his wife shuns media attention and avoids controversy.
Iris Robinson said in recent months she had "experienced all the challenges of standing for what I believe to be the truth" and that the majority of people in the North want "their politicians to stand for Christian truth". But there was no explicit reprise of her views about homosexuality being an abomination or suggestions about how gays might be "turned round". There were going to be no unwanted headlines in that area.
Peter Robinson delivered a strong speech, in a statesmanlike way making the point that people like Daniel Konieczny would be welcome in the DUP. "After 40 years of painful, bloody conflict this party has been given the opportunity, and the mandate, to build a better society for everyone in Northern Ireland. And when I say everyone I mean it," he said.
And again: "I want to see a unionist community that is confident and generous and one that reaches out to those from all parts of the community and indeed to those who come to Northern Ireland from abroad."
Robinson asserted that sharing government - notwithstanding the DUP/Sinn Féin standoff - was better than control from Westminster. And to MEP Jim Allister and all other unionists who can't abide the current system, he warned that direct rule would mean a greater role for Dublin that would leave
unionism "powerless and marginalised . . . this is the reality".
Robinson also used a quote that was employed by Allister when he initially ran for Europe in 2004 on the DUP ticket, that will be used ad infinitum against him ahead of next June's European election.
In those happier days Allister warned: "To those who say that Sinn Féin topping the poll at the European election next June doesn't matter I want them to listen closely. Far from being some sort of flash in the pan Sinn Féin/IRA would spend the political capital acquired from a poll-topping performance on advancing their all-Ireland agenda."
The point here from Robinson was that the only way to stop Sinn Féin heading the poll in June 2009 was to ensure the DUP candidate took the chequered flag. Which could see Allister losing his seat. Devious or what? It will also mean that the election will be contested on the traditional sectarian headcount basis. Some things don't change.
Robinson adverted to the paradox at the heart of the powersharing Stormont administration when he said that "until the end of time there will be a clash between unionism and republicanism".
He made the point that devolving policing and justice - Sinn Féin's key demand - was not the only "unfinished business", and that issues such as the number of Executive departments, parades, a possible end to mandatory coalition and reforming the public services were also important to the DUP.
This could be DUP code for saying that the way out of the deadlock is for the two parties to thrash out a quid pro quo deal where both sides could argue they have made political gains, with face and honour saved on both sides. It's either that or elections.
Behind the scenes on Saturday senior DUP people said work would continue this week to try to reach some form of agreement with Sinn Féin, but that progress would be made incrementally rather than in one giant leap. Sinn Féin is demanding more.
It seems that finding middle ground won't be easy. The other keynote speech, by deputy DUP leader Nigel Dodds, who won a standing ovation, effectively was a prolonged tirade against Sinn Féin and its leader - "yesterday's man" - Gerry Adams.
All agreed that any prospect of a deal would hinge on the Royal Irish Regiment parade passing off peacefully in Belfast.
While the ugly side of Northern Ireland once again manifested itself, at least there was no major incident.
Robinson and Gerry Adams, if so minded, could use yesterday as a spur for making powersharing work, even if, as the First Minister said, the political creeds they represent will always be at war.
They could very reasonably argue that if Sinn Féin and the DUP can't or won't strike a compromise that the alternative could be an exacerbated form of the sectarianism, polarisation and tension experienced in Belfast yesterday.
