Trimble wins vote, say reports

According to sources within the Ulster Unionist Party, David Trimble has won a resounding victory in this morning’s party meeting over its future involvement in the power-sharing Executive.

The win will be a major boost for Trimble’s position as party leader after hardline member, Jeffery Donaldson proposed that they set a deadline of July 1 for pulling out of the Executive if the British Government did not expel Sinn Fein.

However, the anti-agreement MP from Lagan Valley saw his motion heavily defeated as the party sided with Trimble’s view that it was best to remain involved in the political movement in the North.

However Mr Trimble stressed that Tony Blair’s government should not take it as a sign that the UUP is happy with the current state of affairs.