Stormont’s got a West Wing?

Staff levels are Stormont caused waves last week in Northern Ireland, when a think tank, Democratic Dialogue, revealed that while Downing Street employs 190 people, and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has a staff of 205, David Trimble and Mark Durkan’s Office of the first and deputy first minister at Stormont have 424 personnel. The White House employs about 500 staffers.

Sir Bernard Ingham, former press secretary for Margaret Thatcher, told reporters that Northern Ireland’s devolved government was “not so much a world power as a glorified county council.”