One of the tricks of creating peace in Northern Ireland was to "bring the anti-democrats into the democratic embrace," the former British prime minister, Mr John Major, said last night.
But let them not turn logic on its head, he implored: democratic parties did not have Semtex and they did not murder people. If the British government was to "pressure" the democrats, then there must be safeguards for democracy.
His words resonated around the chamber of the House of Commons as the Ulster Unionists, the Conservatives and the SDLP tabled amendments to the Northern Ireland Bill, which is designed to enact the joint British-Irish plan for inclusive government and paramilitary decommissioning.
The dogs on the street in Northern Ireland knew Sinn Fein spoke for the IRA, he told MPs, so it must be recognised who would be sitting in power in the executive when Sinn Fein took their seats. "That is why Sinn Fein must be expelled if the IRA fails to disarm."
Mr Major asked Dr Mowlam and Mr Blair to encourage the International Commission on Decommissioning to publish a detailed schedule of the process to be followed by the paramilitaries. Furthermore, he asked that any breach, at any time, should trigger the expulsion mechanism.
In the event that paramilitary groups refused to disarm, he urged Dr Mowlam to recognise that they had broken their ceasefire and that prisoner releases should be halted.
The NI deputy First Minister and SDLP deputy leader, Mr Seamus Mallon, responded that it was "audacious" to ask that any one party should predetermine the outcome of a review in the event of a suspension of the Assembly, and decide the penalty should paramilitaries default on decommissioning.
His party leader, Mr John Hume, had earlier reiterated the SDLP's opposition to sitting in government with any party engaged in or threatening violence.
But Mr Mallon went further and insisted the review process was collective. It would be "arrogance" for one party to assume the right to determine its outcome.
The SDLP would not ignore any party linked to paramilitaries that broke its commitment to the Way Forward document. Moreover, he did not expect the Ulster Unionists to renege on their commitments to make the Assembly work.
Impressing upon the government the problems unionists were faced with in a "flawed and unfair" Bill, the Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, said democrats were being treated as if indistinguishable from terrorists.
There must be mutual decommissioning, he insisted, and the Bill should be amended to extend sanctions if any paramilitary groups defaulted on decommissioning.
Tabling an amendment for the automatic expulsion of Sinn Fein from the executive if the IRA failed to decommission, the Conservative Northern Ireland spokesman, Mr Andrew Mackay, said it was not "fair and equitable" that all parties should be punished if the IRA defaulted. The Conservatives also tabled amendments calling for a halt to prisoner releases if any paramilitary group failed to decommission, and for a tight decommissioning timetable to be included in the Bill.
However, the Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr Mowlam, told MPs she could not rewrite the Belfast Agreement, and the decommissioning timetable was part of the remit of the International Commission.
"What this Bill does is give guarantees to both sides, that if decommissioning is not honoured, if devolution is not honoured, then they do not have to sit in the executive with people who have not decommissioned . . .
"We have an historic alternative in front of us at the moment which will actually give us a chance to move forward in a way that has not been possible," she said.