Trimble set to face rival faction as bitter showdown nears

RIVAL wings of the Ulster Unionist Party were yesterday heading towards another bitter showdown.

As party officers prepared to set a date for a meeting next month of their 900-member ruling council, sources close to UUP leader David Trimble said he would soon announce plans to face down his critics.

Supporters of Jeffrey Donaldson, the Rev Martin Smyth and David Burnside have requested a meeting of the Ulster Unionist Council over attempts to discipline the three rebel MPs.

The MPs incurred the wrath of Mr Trimble and his supporters in June when they resigned the whip at Westminster in a policy row. They were protesting over the Ulster Unionist Council’s failure in June to completely reject plans by the British and Irish Governments for the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement.

UUP hardliners were angry at the inclusion of an Irish Government nominee in a body monitoring the Agreement’s implementation and paramilitary ceasefires.

They also opposed a plan which would enable IRA fugitives from justice to return to Northern Ireland without being jailed.

Ulster Unionists have been further angered by the revelation that Sinn Féin is pressing the British and Irish Governments to wipe clean the criminal records of former IRA prisoners.

In July, a High Court judge in Belfast ruled that attempts by Mr Trimble and his supporters to suspend Mr Donaldson, Mr Smyth and Mr Burnside were invalid because they broke party rules.

A second bid to discipline the MPs has since been launched.

Talks aimed at healing the rift in the UUP were yesterday suspended by former Stormont minister Sir Reg Empey and east Belfast councillor Jim Rodgers until either the requisition order was dealt with or a UUC meeting was held.