Relations between the Northern Secretary and the Ulster Unionists plummeted last night after Dr Mo Mowlam threatened she might no longer be able to "do business" with Mr Ken Maginnis in the Stormont talks process.
Dr Mowlam delivered her threat in a letter to the Ulster Unionist leader, Mr David Trimble, demanding an apology for "a vicious and unwarranted attack" in a talks session last Wednesday during which Mr Maginnis called Dr Mowlam "a damned liar".
Mr Maginnis last night said he had no intention of apologising and that Dr Mowlam proposed to effectively bar him from the talks process, since he has specific party responsibilities in the ConfidenceBuilding Sub-Group where last week's explosive exchange took place.
After that meeting, Dr Mowlam wrote to Mr Trimble telling him: "I am not prepared to accept this sort of personal verbal attack from an elected representative. Common decency and humanity alone should ensure that it is not repeated, but I have to tell you that until I receive an apology from you as leader of the Ulster Unionist Party on his behalf, or from Mr Ken Maginnis himself, I will not do business with him in the talks."
Dr Mowlam added: "It is just one of many incidents in recent times involving myself and my officials and it has got to stop."
Dr Mowlam's demand was greeted with dismay in senior unionist circles last night and described as "a mistake". While conceding that Mr Maginnis had gone "over the top", well-placed sources said Mr Trimble was unlikely to apologise on behalf of his colleague, adding that he had been equally critical of Dr Mowlam. It was claimed that during their recent meeting with the Prime Minister at the Lancaster House talks, Mr Trimble told Mr Blair, in Dr Mowlam's presence, that he had no confidence in her as Secretary of State.
Last week's attack, which ended with Mr Maginnis storming from the room, was apparently sparked by the difference in Dr Mowlam's mode of addressing various members of the talks delegations. After referring to a number of contributors by their Christian names, Dr Mowlam reportedly referred to Mr Maginnis's colleague Mr Dermot Nesbitt as "Mr" Nesbitt.
Mr Maginnis complained of an implied discourtesy and, on being told by Dr Mowlam that she did not know Mr Nesbitt's first name, said this was a lie and called her "a damned liar."
However, as Dr Mowlam's letter to Mr Trimble reveals, she and a number of her senior officials have been the target of increasingly bitter and personal criticisms by Mr Maginnis over a period of months.
Mr Maginnis has been highly critical of Dr Mowlam since last June, when he questioned her account to the House of Commons of the state of contact between the British government and Sinn Fein following the IRA murders of two RUC officers in Lurgan.
He has also collided with her over the case of Kevin Barry Artt in San Francisco; the Maze Prison; the question of so-called political prisoners; and the intelligence assessment available at the time of her visit to UDA/UFF prisoners in the Maze.
Mr Maginnis said last night: "Apparently the Secretary of State has no difficulty accommodating those with a record of terrorism including murder over the past 28 years which have given deep offence to ordinary members of society in Northern Ireland, but is able to adopt this arbitrary approach to a fellow MP because she is personally offended."
No comment about Dr Mowlam's letter could be obtained from the Northern Ireland Office last night.
Review of Police Authority an- nounced; Hume defends Mallon as Sinn Fein criticism grows: page 5