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A stomach turning spectacle

• Mark Devenport
• 27 Mar 07, 05:18 PM

Jim Allister is obviously punctual by nature. As we all waited in his office on the Holywood Road he sat behind his desk for what seemed an age (although it was only five minutes) waiting for the appointed time (2pm) before confirming what we had already guessed - that he was leaving the DUP. He said his stomach turned when he saw the pictures of Gerry Adams and Ian Paisley sitting together in the Stormont Dining Room. If the IRA Army Council stays, he insisted, he was out. But there is to be no by-election as he intends to see out his term.

His fellow barrister, the UK Unionist Bob McCartney, may wonder why Mr Allister left it until now to make his stand. If he had jumped ship during the election campaign he could perhaps have made more of an impact on the way in which events have unfolded. When the DUP dropped its previous policy that a mandatory coalition with Sinn Fein was "out of the question" Mr McCartney smelt a rat. By contrast Jim Allister felt there was enough in the DUP's Assembly election manifesto about the need for full delivery by republicans to keep him on board.

Over in the Commons, Peter Robinson expressed regret that colleagues had left the party. He hoped they would think again. The East Belfast MP said he and his colleagues felt no joy in their hearts as they sat down with Sinn Fein yesterday, but felt it was in the wider interest that they did so.

Interestingly Mr Robinson went out of his way to deny suggestions that the DUP had reached a side deal with the Home Secretary John Reid on delaying devolution, cutting Peter Hain out of the picture. He said Mr Reid was the kind of politician who always stopped to exchange a word in the corridors at Westminster but he hadn't cut across the Northern Ireland Secretary's patch. That follows suggestions that the Home Secretary told the DUP about a fortnight ago that the precise date for devolution didn't matter provided it came "on Tony's watch".

Not all was sweetness and light - Jeffrey Donaldson accused Sylvia Hermon of nit picking and pettiness when she asked why MLAs were getting paid over the next six weeks.