The governing 110-member executive committee of the Ulster Unionist Party has endorsed the approach of its leader, Mr David Trimble, to today's opening plenary session of the Stormont talks. The three-hour meeting on Saturday at the party's headquarters in Glengall Street ended with sustained applause for the leadership. Mr Trimble emerged from the meeting in confident mood and said the executive had provided support for his view that the unionist case should be put.
He did not confirm that the party would attend the talks but when asked if there would be face-to-face meetings with Sinn Fein, he replied: "Let's wait and see."
He said: "We addressed the new position created by the [British] government's premature decision to invite Sinn Fein/IRA into the talks. We discussed the merits and demerits of the existing talks process and of various alternative processes, as well as exploring the various procedural options that were open to us.
"I gave a detailed report of the discussions we have been having with the [British] government and with other parties over recent weeks and what progress there had been as a result of that.
"In particular, I welcomed a very clear expression of the position on consent in all its implications and ramifications given by the Prime Minister [Mr Tony Blair] in his interview on Ulster Television last night [Friday] and in the News Letter this morning [Saturday]. I think these clear words from the Prime Minister must be seen as clearly correcting a false impression that has been created in some quarters.
"The executive expressed its general approval of the actions of the party leadership over the summer. The executive is firmly of the opinion that we should ensure, one way or another, that the unionist voice is heard and that the Union is defended.
"It authorised, therefore, the leadership to take what decisions and follow what course of action it considers appropriate to the current situation."
He said the party leadership would meet at Glengall Street this morning to decide its approach to the talks.
Mr Blair told the News Letter, the North's unionist morning paper: "No one should be naive about the IRA and Sinn Fein. The two organisations are inextricably linked. One cannot credibly claim to be acting independently of the other."
He said if the Mitchell Principles were "dishonoured, for example, by any return to violence by the IRA or front organisations for it, let there be no doubt that Sinn Fein will not be able to stay in the negotiations".