Hain praises Paisley's courage

Former Northern Ireland secretary Peter Hain has praised Ian Paisley for taking the "brave step" of agreeing to form a power sharing executive with Sinn Fein, in an interview on BBC Two's Newsnight.

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader will step down as Northern Ireland first minister in May and Hain described how he and Mr Paisley had discussed the historic accord at the time.

"I had many conversations with him, private ones over those two years, and it was very clear to me that if the circumstances were right, if Sinn Fein would sign up to policing and the rule of law as they did, if they renounce their terrorist activity as they did, then he was ready to make a historic deal with them.

"I think he'd realised the time to do it and the time may not come around again, certainly not for him as an individual, but possibly not for Northern Ireland."

Mr Hain said that this was a "courageous step", which persuaded many reluctant DUP members to follow.