In the 1997 general election Roy Jenkins compared Tony Blair to a man carrying a Ming vase across a slippery floor, tiptoeing gingerly towards a Labour victory.
The same description fits Sinn Féin as it approaches Northern Ireland’s assembly election on Thursday, cautiously edging towards a potentially momentous win. The prize is to emerge as the region’s largest party and claim the post of first minister – a symbolic and psychological breakthrough for Irish nationalism given Northern Ireland was designed to have a permanent unionist majority.
