UUP in crisis as Donaldson quits

REBEL MP Jeffrey Donaldson last night quit the Ulster Unionist Party.

David Trimble was plunged into the greatest crisis of his leadership after Mr Donaldson announced he was leaving the party along with two other Assembly members.

Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA Arlene Foster and Lagan Valley Assembly member Norah Beare are also leaving. "We have made the decision that we are resigning from the Ulster Unionist Party and will be considering our options," Mr Donaldson said.

One could involve him with the Rev Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists. He confirmed: "I have been offered a position on the DUP's negotiating team to participate in the negotiations taking place in January and will be taking a decision after the holidays.

"This is a sad day for me. I have been a member of the Ulster Unionist Party since I was a teenager.

"However, I have come to the conclusion that it is not the party I joined and it has abandoned the principles I believe in."

Mr Donaldson's resignation came after over five years of in-fighting which has left the Ulster Unionist Party hopelessly split over support for the Good Friday Agreement and power sharing with Sinn Féin.

Mr Donaldson, Mr Trimble's fiercest critic, walked away after several failed attempts to change party policy. He has been the MP for Lagan Valley since 1997.

The resignations mean Mr Trimble's Assembly Group has dropped from 27 seats to 24 the same as Sinn Féin.

In June, Mr Donaldson angered supporters of Mr Trimble by resigning the Ulster Unionist whip at Westminster along with party president Rev Martin Smyth and South Antrim MP David Burnside.