Senior civil servants were asked to help the Northern Ireland Office give as positive a response as possible to issues raised by the Rev Ian Paisley’s son during devolution negotiations before a key political deadline, it emerged today.

Around 1,500 civilian jobs are to be axed as part of a sweeping military normalisation programme in Northern Ireland, it was announced today.

A Catholic former soldier passed himself off to colleagues as a relative of the leader of the notorious loyalist gang the Shankill Butchers, it was claimed today.