Tory leader calls for tough stance on IRA

British Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith today called on Tony Blair to take a tough stance on IRA disarmament and consider throwing Sinn Fein out of its offices at Westminster following the collapse of devolution in Northern Ireland.

Mr Smith, speaking at the Ulster Unionist Party annual conference in Derry, said he was “exasperated” by British government concessions to republicans – from the release of prisoners, failure to insist on decommissioning in return, and the facilities provided to Sinn Fein MPs who refuse to take their seats in the House of Commons.