Peace talks face delays

To any reasonable observer it would seem unquestionable that Jeffrey Donaldson, Martin Smyth and David Burnside had put themselves outside the pale of the Ulster Unionist Party when they resigned from the parliamentary party whip at Westminster this week.

They did not, and have now forced leader David Trimble to instigate the setting up of a disciplinary committee to deal with the three, who have precipitated a crisis within the party.

Unfortunately, their internal strife has serious implications for the possibility of restoring the peace process. The longer it is protracted, the longer will be the delay in trying to get peace talks back on track.