Politicians from other parties often accuse members of Sinn Fein and the DUP of being too big for their boots, of behaving as if they ran the power-sharing administration on their own.

There is a lot of truth in that, but it is not just the fault of Sinn Fein and the DUP that they think this way. Downing Street thinks the same way, if the row over the devolution of policing and justice is anything to go by.

Martin McGuinness and Peter Robinson have been in and out the door of 10 Downing Street umpteen times in recent weeks, or so it seems. Gordon Brown has been negotiating with them on a financial package (bribe) for devolution of the powers. Martin thinks it’s a good deal, Peter wants more clarification.

Makes you wonder if Gordon is being at his most masterful in double-speak or if Peter is being a bit dense. Maybe he just doesn’t want to understand what the PM is offering.

But the Prime Minister is ignoring the other parties at Stormont — the SDLP, the Ulster Unionists and the Alliance Party (which will get the policing and justice job until 2012 anyway).

In fact he told Martin and Peter that while they could brief their other power-sharing partners at Stormont on the policing and justice deal, they couldn’t show the other parties the details he set out in a letter.

What sort of signal is that to parties which are as much part of the power-sharing administration as Sinn Fein and the DUP.

Is Gordon saying that he doesn’t really care what they think. The Ulster Unionists and SDLP had their days at the top and cocked it up. They are yesterday’s men and women.

Of course the Alliance Party has always been used to nobody paying much attention to it.

It has always attracted liberal minded representatives, men and women who saw the really acceptable face of Northern Ireland, but have never been able to translate their worthy ideas into sufficiently large numbers of votes.

For Alliance, the SDLP and Ulster Unionists to be left out of the loop entirely on policing and justice is about the greatest slight that Downing Street can pay them.

It is also a signal to the Northern Ireland electorate that there is no point in voting for those parties, since no-one cares what they stand for.

As far as Downing Street is concerned, powersharing means Northern Ireland is a two party state divided up between Sinn Fein and the DUP. If they can be cajoled or forced into toeing the Westminster line, then that is all that matters.

The other parties are just decorations to be brought out when passing dignatories drop in.

They are a bit like breeding pandas – not much hope of increasing their numbers, but a pleasant enough tourist attraction.

It will be interesting to see if the SDLP and UUP, in particular, will continue to let the two big parties ride roughshod over them or if they will find a bit of fighting spirit from somewhere and start letting the electorate know they are still alive and kicking.

They could make a good start by knocking heads together on the one issue that really matters — finding an end to the education chaos.