The decision to give an indicative date for a return is a mistake. It degrades the process. It degrades human life.

The decision to give an indicative date for a return is a mistake. It degrades the process. It degrades human life.

As we take stock of this century of achievement, Ulster Unionists have every reason to feel proud.

I knew what I had to do as party leader had to be sensible and relate to the real situation we were in, rather than a situation you would like to have.

The dark shadow we seem to see in the distance is not really a mountain ahead, but the shadow of the mountain behind - a shadow from the past thrown forward into our future. It is a dark sludge of historical sectarianism. We can leave it behind us if we wish.

It wasn't too difficult to see that [Ian] Paisley would never do anything positive.

I was organizing a fringe meeting at the Conservative Party conference in October 1994 and I got a message that the Prime Minister would like a meeting. I went to the meeting. It was just me and John Major.What Major said to me was this: "If you were in my shoes, what would you do?". He wasn't asking me what a unionist should do, but what he should do. And I knew that I had to give him a sensible answer.