DUP brands Trimble 'bitter has-been'
Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble was today accused of trying to undermine efforts to restore the Northern Ireland Assembly.
The Democratic Unionist deputy leader, East Belfast MP Peter Robinson, launched the no-holds-barred attack on the Upper Bann MP during a visit to Harvard University in Boston.
After the UUP leader called on the British Government to consider closing down the Assembly if there was no deal this autumn, Mr Robinson said: “Mr Trimble is a sad, twisted and bitter has-been politician trying to create the conditions for collapse so that nobody else succeeds where he has failed.”
During Northern Ireland Questions on Wednesday, Mr Trimble welcomed the announcement by British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern last week that intensive talks would take place this autumn to break the political deadlock.
But he added: “I am asking…that if the deadline is not met there will be firm action to make it clear to the parties that have been dragging their feet over the last couple of years that the British government will move on, that it will close down the Assembly, that it will put in place alternative arrangements.”
Last November the DUP outpolled the Ulster Unionists to become the Northern Ireland Assembly’s largest party, and last month the party also topped the poll for the European Election.
DUP and Sinn Féin negotiators have been involved in discussions with the British and Irish Governments in recent months about the prospects of restoring the Assembly and a power-sharing executive.
But neither party had been in direct, face-to-face talks, and Ian Paisley has insisted that his party will not share power with Sinn Féin until the IRA disarms and winds down.
Ahead of a meeting today with the DUP, US President George W Bush’s special envoy to Northern Ireland, Ambassador Mitchell Reiss, yesterday called on the DUP to engage in direct talks with Sinn Féin.
