As the rift between the pro- and anti-Belfast Agreement factions within the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) deepens, supporters of Mr David Trimble have gone on the offensive by accusing the new Union First group of setting out to undermine his leadership.
Senior UUP Assembly members claimed that the pressure group was acting reprehensibly against Mr Trimble in order to air its "petty prejudices and dislikes". A spokesman for Union First - which was ostensibly formed to reflect the opinion of grassroots unionists - denied the charges.
This latest public squabble comes less than two weeks before the UUP's annual conference, and appears to be setting a marker for the main theme of the conference.
In a statement issued by the UUP's Assembly chief whip, Mr Jim Wilson, the pro-Trimble group was dismissive of Union First's insistence that it is not intent in ousting Mr Trimble as leader of the party. The new ginger group was "attempting to force the party back to the politics of the cul-de-sac", the statement added.
Ten senior UUP Assembly members, including Mr Reg Empey, Mr Dermot Nesbitt, Mr Fred Cobain, Mr Michael McGimpsey and deputy party whips, Mr Ivan Davis and Mr Derek Hussey, denounced Union First. "It is deceitful to say that in forming this group they are supporting David," their statement said. "What this group really wants is to undermine the party leader, David Trimble," they added.
The pro-agreement group said Union First would not succeed in damaging Mr Trimble's leadership. Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, the Lagan Valley anti-agreement MP, accused the pro-Trimble group of scare-mongering and name-calling. He denied the "smear" that Union First was seeking to undermine Mr Trimble. "Are we saying that there is no longer room for debate and discussion in our party? If we are, then we are going down the road of Stalinism, not democracy," he said.
The disagreement was further aired on BBC Radio Ulster yesterday when Mr Nesbitt and Mr David Brewster, a founder of Union First, challenged each other on the current affairs Talkback programme.
Mr Nesbitt said that parties such as the DUP, the UK Unionist Party and factions like Union First within the UUP were undermining the party's goal of trying to "secure a stable government by calling into question David Trimble's veracity as leader".
Mr Brewster, a UUP honorary secretary who failed to win a seat for the party in the Assembly, denied that Union First was intent on ousting Mr Trimble. "We are not realigning. We are not founding a new party. We are not trying to get rid of anybody," he said.
