Unionism at risk as Trimble prepares for showdown
The Ulster Unionist leader is expected to defeat a motion by anti-Agreement MP Jeffrey Donaldson at today's meeting of the party's ruling council but there are fears that it could split the party in two.
Mr Donaldson, MP for Lagan Valley, who urged the council's 900 members to reject the British and Irish governments' Joint Declaration, said it was a "defining moment for Unionism".
He has dismissed a compromisefrom Mr Trimble which while, refusing to endorse the Joint Declaration, does not reject it outright.
The Joint Declaration, published by the two governments after multi-party negotiations, includes plans for a scaling down of the British military presence in the North, a scheme to allow fugitive terror suspects to return, and the creation of a sanctions body to punish parties in default of the Agreement.
These moves would be implemented in return for the IRA giving up its terror campaign for good and getting rid of its weapons.
In a six-point amendment, Mr Trimble condemned plans for an amnesty for exiled terrorist suspects and called for the retention of the home battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment.
The amendment makes clear that the UUP does not endorse the Joint Declaration and that no consideration would be given to a return to devolution until the ruling council had the opportunity to consider the words and actions of republicans.
But Mr Donaldson's dismissal of his leader's resolution appears to have destroyed any chance of a compromise between the two UUP camps.
In a thinly-veiled attack on the leadership, Mr Donaldson said: "The days of constructive ambiguity are at an end. We cannot fudge this issue of the Joint Declaration. Foolishly believing we can cherry-pick the document flies in the face of reality."
Mr Donaldson has been accused by Mr Trimble's supporters of letting the IRA off the hook while tearing his own party apart. .
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