I was in Stormont on Wednesday and witnessed the by-now familiar sight of our MLAs filing into the chamber and filing out again, unable to form a government.

We have been here before, but this time it felt different. The DUP MLAs were subdued. Gone was the usual ebullience and chutzpah. Gordon Lyons went through the motions, branding the recall as a cynical stunt. He delivered his script without conviction or belief.

Of course, there was the obligatory sniping at Sinn Féin. These nationalists knew “full well” that there was no prospect of a speaker being elected; they were peddling disinformation and misleading the public. Even the petty point-scoring was deflated. Lyons appeared to be flying blind.

If this is success, I’d hate to see what failure does to their demeanour and body language. As the session went on it was more and more evident that the DUP MLAs were uncomfortable with being set against demoralised, undervalued public sector workers.

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