大象传媒

Job Done

• Mark Devenport
• 8 May 07, 02:51 PM

Spent all morning in a TV studio following the events inside the Assembly Chamber and Great Hall. It definitely feels like the last of those "tents on the lawn" occasions.

Interesting moments in the First Minister's Office when Ian Paisley took a cup of tea with the VIPs. At first it looked as if Peter Hain might not have a seat but then he squeezed in on the sofa next to Tony and Bertie.

There was a heart stopping moment for Gordon Brown when the First Minister and the Prime Minister discussed their different trajectories with one leaving office at 54 and the other taking office at 81. Tony Blair mused whether he should have learned a lesson from Ian Paisley and stayed on until he was 80.

No handshake between Messrs Paisley and McGuinness, but the First Minister did applaud his Deputy First Minister's speech by tapping the bannister on the stairs of the Great Hall with the palm of his hand. And as they walked away a colleague claims to have seen the Deputy First Minister putting his arm on the First Minister's shoulder.