The Ulster Unionist security spokesman, Mr Ken Maginnis, declined to shake hands with Mr Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein after their Newsnight debate and said he would only do so "when there's no guns".
BBC television showed footage last night from the aftermath of the debate which had Mr McGuinness saying to his opponent: "Would you like to shake hands, would you?" After Mr Maginnis had declined, pending the decommissioning of IRA weapons, the Sinn Fein MP said: "See you on the 15th." This was an allusion to the date set for allparty talks at Stormont.
The Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, has described the debate as "useful" and said she hoped it was an "indicator" that all parties would be around a table on September 15th, with the ceasefire holding.
"Some of what they said was helpful, some of what they said was going into the past again, which was inevitable. I am pleased it took place. It was, as Martin McGuinness said, courageous of the Ulster Unionist Party to field somebody in a debate because there are many other unionist parties that are saying they want to withdraw from the talks.
"I don't think that is the way forward. I think people are elected to represent their constituents and in the end it is only by inclusive talks that we will reach some kind of agreement so, as a precursor to that, I welcomed it," Dr Mowlam said in Derry yesterday.
A spokesman for the UUP said reaction from party supporters was "very positive". Telephone calls to party headquarters had been very supportive and nobody in the UUP had suggested Mr Maginnis should not have taken part.
Mr Maginnis had been authorised by the party leadership to participate in the programme, he said, and he had done so with the full support of the UUP at senior level.
The Democratic Unionist Party said Mr Maginnis should not have agreed to the debate because it legitimised Sinn Fein and conditioned unionists to accept talks with republicans.
The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, told reporters in Belfast yesterday that the debate had been "a significant step" from the point of view of the unionists.
"I agree totally with Martin McGuinness that we should be encouraged and we should continue this dialogue and, as people go through almost the natural sparring that goes on in any one of these engagements, then hopefully we will listen to each other and seek to find some way forward."
He believed that the logic of Mr David Trimble's strategy was that the UUP leader should be in all-party talks.
Asked what he believed should happen if the UUP failed to take part in all-party negotiations next month, Mr Adams said: "If they're not there on the 15th or the 21st or whatever, then the door should be left open for them, the chairs should be left vacant for them, but the two governments should move forward with substantive talks on the core issues with those parties who are in attendance."
. Some 1.5 million tuned in to the live BBC debate between Mr Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein and the UUP's security spokesman, Mr Ken Maginnis, on Tuesday night, the BBC said yesterday. The normal viewing figure for the Newsnight programme was stated to be one million.
A BBC spokeswoman said yesterday the organisation did not comment on individual telephone calls but it is understood the feedback was evenly divided between objections to the appearance of Mr McGuinness and disappointment that there was no "meeting of minds" between the politicians.