The DUP leader has urged anti-Agreement UUP MPs to break their silence. Ian Paisley urged them to make the move or risk being regarded as supporters of David Trimble. He called on William Ross, Jeffrey Donaldson, William Thompson and the Reverend Martin Smyth to clarify their position. They were absent from the UUP manifesto launch yesterday.
Mr Paisley told a Belfast news conference that the other four candidates who did not turn up have been strangely silent on this issue. He said: "They must now speak and they must now either identify themselves with the position that they say they are maintaining or they will be counted as having gone over to the side of Mr Trimble."
On the third anniversary of the referendum to ratify the Good Friday Agreement, the DUP leadership declared that people recognised its "folly". Peter Robinson, MP for East Belfast, insisted that visits to the North this week by British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and former United States President Bill Clinton would be futile. He added: "You can be certain that the church leaders and business leaders will come out and give support to the Agreement. They have learnt nothing new."
Mr Robinson also launched a fresh attack on the Ulster Unionists for striking a deal with the Alliance Party in an attempt to boost Lady Sylvia Hermon's chances of taking the North Down seat. He said that the political spectrum had moved, adding that the Ulster Unionists had moved away from being a Unionist party.
Mr Robinson said that they were trying to be possessors of the centre ground. Mr Paisley struck one last defiant note as he prepared for the forthcoming election. He declared: "We are moving forward to the final struggle, the crossing of the Boyne has come."
In a separate development, the deadline for nominations of candidates for the 18 Northern Ireland constituencies in next month's Westminster elections closes today. The withdrawal of the Alliance Party from North Down yesterday boosted Ulster Unionists' hopes of capturing the pro-Good Friday Agreement vote and unseating UK Unionist Robert McCartney.
