Trimble offers olive branch to party critics

Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble today offered an olive branch to his party critics, urging them to think again about their revolt against his policies.

As the UUP prepared for a potentially explosive meeting this Saturday of its 900-member ruling council, the former Stormont First Minister welcomed proposals from the British and Irish governments to set up a four member Commission to monitor the Good Friday Agreement and paramilitary ceasefires.

The Upper Bann MP also urged three colleagues – Jeffrey Donaldson, the Reverend Martin Smyth and David Burnside – who resigned the party whip at Westminster in June in a row over the Commission, to “take this opportunity to sort things out and see things in a different light”.

Mr Trimble argued: “Anybody can see what was being described in June as a breach of a fundamental principle of unionism is addressed.

“The Strand One boundary line has been observed and that has been done clearly.

“Those who called Saturday’s meeting now owe the rest of us a duty to reflect.

“If any of those concerned want to have a chat with me about how we can deal with the situation they are welcome.”

Ulster Unionists will gather this Saturday in Belfast’s Ulster Hall to debate attempts by Mr Trimble’s supporters to discipline the three rebel MPs.

Jeffrey Donaldson, the Reverend Martin Smyth and David Burnside resigned the party whip in June in protest at their party’s failure to reject British and Irish Government proposals for the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement.

One of the issues they highlighted was the involvement of an Irish Government nominee on the monitoring Commission, arguing if he were to determine if a party had breached the Good Friday Agreement it would enable Dublin to have a say in the internal affairs of Northern Ireland.

Mr Trimble and his supporters were satisfied, however, that today’s draft agreement from London and Dublin had shown those concerns were unfounded.

The UUP leader praised the calibre of the four nominees to the Commission, noting they included a former deputy director of the CIA, a former Metropolitan Police anti-terrorism chief and an official from the Irish Republic’s Department of Justice.

He also welcomed the nomination of former cross-community Alliance Party leader and former Assembly Speaker Lord Alderdice as the Northern Ireland representative.

“There is no reason to doubt the integrity of all four Commission members,” the Ulster Unionist leader told PA News.

“When this idea was hatched, we thought it was important to have someone from Northern Ireland.

“We wanted someone who was regarded as a person of substance and in touch with opinion in Northern Ireland.

“So while his fellow Commission members bring expertise in specific fields, Lord Alderdice is there because he commands respect, he knows what people in Northern Ireland think and what is important to them.

“Is this going to work? Nobody knows.

“However we have a body which is there to focus primarily on paramilitary activity and we are not going back to the position where a Secretary of State is prepared to brush that activity under the carpet.”