It was only a matter of time before Doug Beattie's "historical tweets" controversy hit other parties.
Soon after the UUP leader expressed his shame over old derogatory posts, three Sinn Féin MLAs and a Green Party councillor were apologising when their own past tweets resurfaced.
It helps explain why some Stormont rivals did not fully put the boot into Mr Beattie over his Twitter messages published before he entered politics.
