The SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, was sombre and subdued yesterday when he said that withdrawing his name as a candidate for the presidency was "one of the most difficult personal decisions I've ever had to make in my life." He told reporters outside his home in Derry's West End Park: "There's no point in me saying I'm either disappointed or pleased. I had to take the decision and when you've a difficult decision to take, you have to support what you've done yourself."
He recalled that when the issue arose during the summer, he was just about to go on holidays. "But I only took 10 days and I came back because I had to consult with my colleagues. It was my duty to do that.
"Some of them were on holiday too, so our first meeting was on Saturday last. Having consulted with them, I then took my decision but it was long and hard and I was thinking a lot about it.
"It's a very major suggestion and therefore a very major decision. I gave it the time I think it required."
He hinted strongly that his sole interest had been in going forward as an agreed candidate and that he would not have contested a presidential election.
"The SDLP down the years has had a very clear view that we never involve ourselves in the internal politics of the South because in dealing with the North we work with all parties and with all governments and that's essential. "If we intervened in the internal politics of the South we would make the approach to the North much more difficult." He stressed that he was "responding to the major suggestions from very many quarters that I be an agreed candidate."
When asked if he would have contested the nomination at a meeting of the Fianna Fail parliamentary party, Mr Hume declined to comment, stressing that he was "not getting into the party politics of the South."
He rejected any suggestion that his decision to remain on the Northern political scene was motivated by pessimism over the peace process. "Not at all. I felt it was my duty to be there."