The SDLP leader, Mr Mark Durkan, was lobbied by the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, to support an Assembly exclusion motion against Sinn Féin directly ahead of the suspension of the Stormont institutions, writes Gerry Moriarty, Northern Editor, in Armagh.
In an interview with BBC Radio Ulster, to be broadcast this afternoon to coincide with the opening of the SDLP conference, Mr Durkan confirms that Mr Blair considered the expulsion of Sinn Féin after the PSNI raided the party's offices in Stormont as part of an investigation into whether NIO documents were leaked to republicans.
"Tony Blair asked us would we support an exclusion motion. We asked Tony Blair would he be tabling an exclusion motion. He said: 'I asked you first.' We said: 'What was the point in asking us if we don't know whether one will be tabled'," Mr Durkan said.
The then Northern Secretary, Dr John Reid, was facing the options of collapsing the Executive and Assembly or seeing if the SDLP would join with the Ulster Unionists and the DUP in forcing Sinn Féin ministers Mr Martin McGuinness and Ms Bairbre de Brún out of the Executive.
Mr Blair told Mr Durkan there were grounds for exclusion, based on the allegations surrounding the alleged IRA infiltration of Castle Buildings, Stormont, but that there would be no point in tabling a motion if the SDLP would not support it. Mr Durkan told the Prime Minister that he could not respond because he did not have the evidence the Prime Minister purported to have.
The SDLP chairman, Mr Alex Attwood, told the conference last night that now was the time for an end to republican and loyalist paramilitaries. "So let the republican and loyalist organisations know what is expected of them, not by unionism or by the British, but by our section of the people of the island, and by many of the rest of the people of the island. We expect an end to paramilitarism, not a vague aspiration that at some future time, or in some future place, paramilitarism might end, but at this time and over time."
The debating focus of the conference last night was on justice and policing. The party's justice spokesman, Mr Alban Maginness, said that, despite the political problems, great progress had been made on bringing police reform in line with the Patten proposals.
"Policing is the litmus test as to the making of our political system and politicians. Those who care about this community have taken the risks and the community will see for itself the benefits of the SDLP's courage and imagination," Mr Maginness said.
"Indeed, it would be fair to say that the SDLP has delivered more change in policing in the last year than in the previous 80. Yet we know that more change is required, and there is more work to be done with Special Branch and the closing down of the loyalists. Having delivered so much so quickly already, we are certain we can deliver this."
The North Belfast MLA said that the SDLP sought greater transparency in the criminal justice system, including the appointment of judges who fully reflected the communities' interests. "We also want to see a court service which is modern and which reflects parity of esteem in relation to such issues as symbolism," he added.