By ANNE McHARDY Herald correspondent
BELFAST - Internal dissent forced Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble, the First Minister in the suspended Northern Ireland Administration, to postpone the weekend meeting of his party's ruling council.
The postponement inevitably means British Prime Minister Tony Blair cannot honour his promise to restore the Belfast Administration today. However, the British and Irish Governments are relaxed about the delay, believing a week's wait will be worthwhile if the result is positive.
Trimble had called the meeting of the 850-strong council to consider whether the offer by the Irish Republican Army to allow outside observers to seal some of its arms dumps was sufficient to agree to again share power in the Administration with Provisional Sinn Fein.
Critics include deputy leader John Taylor, aged 62, a hardliner important within the Unionists because of his strong connections with the Orange Order, which has a disproportionate number of seats on the council, and his history within the party, having served in the Governments of the last two Northern Ireland Prime Ministers before 1972.
His face is badly scared from wounds inflicted in 1972 in an IRA attack in his native Armagh City.
Taylor's reluctant support last November allowed Trimble to enter the devolved Government but since then he has repeatedly seemed unduly critical.
Last week, he gave a cautious welcome to the IRA offer, raising hopes that he would help Trimble win the ruling council vote, but then backtracked.
The key factor in his reluctance, shared by many council members, is the reform and renaming of the Royal Ulster Constabulary recommended by former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten late last year and promised by Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson.
As a sop to the Unionists, a draft bill published in London last week failed to include one Patten recommendation, that the force should be called the Police Service of Northern Ireland as part of an image change to attract Catholic recruits.
Currently its membership is 88 per cent Protestant and it is deeply mistrusted in Catholic areas. At the same time as the draft bill, a letter from Mandelson to Trimble - later leaked - promised to incorporate the title RUC.
These moves failed to convince Unionists and managed to antagonise the Catholic parties, the Social Democratic and Labour Party and Sinn Fein.
An increasingly unhappy Taylor told BBC Radio Ulster: "I personally thought the meeting was somewhat premature; that we would have to get some of these things sorted out."
Behind the scenes he was more outspoken, helping to push Trimble to postpone the council meeting.
Mandelson suspended the Administration in February when Trimble threatened to resign because the IRA had not decommissioned any of its weapons in the 10 weeks the Administration had existed.
Trimble told Mandelson that if he resigned he could not guarantee sufficient support in his party because of the numbers hostile to the continued process of devolution.
Mandelson said the suspension was necessary to prevent the resignation because Trimble's re-election as First Minister could not be guaranteed.
The Social Democrats and Irish Government were furious, the Irish because they believed Mandelson was required by the Good Friday peace accord to consult them.
Heavy lobbying in Northern Ireland will continue this week, with Trimble working on ruling council members, but also trying to maintain what appears to be much stronger support within the wider Unionist community, which according to various soundings wants the peace process to continue.
Future of RUC behind delay of arms talks
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