Under the rules of the Ulster Unionist Party anyone suspended ceases to be a member and loses all rights and privileges of membership, writes Gerry Moriarty, Northern Editor
We said it was going to be a bloody civil war in the Ulster Unionist Party. The martyrdom of the three Westminster MPs, Jeffrey Donaldson, Martin Smyth and David Burnside, is unfolding faster than expected.
The Irish Times spoke to Mr Donaldson early yesterday afternoon when the Lagan Valley MP calmly said he wasn't expecting any real developments before next week at the earliest.
This was because, according to Mr Donaldson, under party rules the leadership could not strike against the three rebels until they had received a hearing before the disciplinary committee set up at the request of Mr David Trimble by party officers on Thursday.
An hour or so later the story changed radically. The suspension statement came through from party HQ embargoed until 5 p.m. It proved a bombshell, is short and is worth quoting in full: "Following \ decision by the party officers to refer a suspected breach of party rules by three Members of Parliament, the party's disciplinary committee met at party headquarters in Belfast. The committee decided to hold a further formal hearing on July 17th at which the three MPs are entitled to be present.
"The committee determined that, pending the hearing, the Rev Martin Smyth MP, Mr Jeffrey Donaldson MP and Mr David Burnside MP are suspended from party membership with immediate effect.
"Under the party rules, anyone suspended from membership ceases to be a member and forfeits all the rights and privileges of party membership." Terse and to the point.
Another quick call to Mr Donaldson brought the equally concise response: "This is summary justice." Then he was off to BBC and UTV. This is a battle for hearts and minds of ordinary unionists. Chiefly, it must be fought over the Northern Ireland airwaves. Before his turn on BBC Radio Ulster Mr Donaldson listened to the party chairman, Mr James Cooper, explaining to the interviewer, Audrey Carville, why this action had been taken.
Carville read the UUP rule book back to Mr Cooper. On disciplinary matters she quoted: "The member concerned shall be afforded every reasonable opportunity to appear before the disciplinary committee for the purpose of answering the allegations and assisting in the investigation.
"If after having investigated the matter the disciplinary committee decides that the conduct of the member has been detrimental to the interests of unionism then they have the power to take disciplinary action."
Mr Cooper tried to pooh-pooh the sanctity of this particular rule. After all, rules are capable of a number of interpretations. They did not preclude suspension pending a hearing. And anyway suspension is not expulsion (at least not yet). "It is a temporary arrangement that prevails until a hearing takes place," he said.
Mr Cooper said neither the three MPs nor their supporters could have been surprised at this "robust" response. The vast majority of unionists wanted an end to the internecine onslaughts; they wanted Ulster Unionists "to do what they were successful at, pinning Sinn Féin/IRA to the pledge that they must end violence, so we can have true peaceful democracy".
Mr Donaldson, however, said shock and surprise hardly began to describe his reaction. He believed the party was in breach of its own rules and is taking legal advice to try to overturn the suspension.
In the meantime Mr Donaldson, Mr Smyth and Mr Burnside are now outside the party as a result of that "robust" response from the leadership. Mr Donaldson had put it up to the leader to take such action. However, he wasn't expecting it to happen so swiftly.
On the plus side for the rebels they could start winning some grassroots sympathy for this action.
That, after all, was part of their strategy. Ultimately they hoped that such action might convince yet another Ulster Unionist Council to finally switch sides and dump Mr Trimble.
Before yesterday evening Mr Donaldson and his two colleagues were half in and half out of the party.
Now they are out. That nobbles them to some extent because they will be restricted from using party machinery to undermine the leader. That gives some minor advantage to Mr Trimble and his strategists.