The British Conservative Party has disciplined one of the key architects of its link up with the Ulster Unionists after he accused the Northern Ireland party of reneging on the terms of the pact.
Jeffrey Peel has been suspended from his post as area officer for the party after he claimed the UUP had refused to abide by Tory hopes of creating a new cross-community political force.
Earlier Mr Peel, who is vice-chairman of the Northern Ireland wing of the Conservatives, said he was withdrawing his support for the alliance, claiming the unionists had not made good on their commitment to take a new approach that might appeal to both Protestant and Catholic voters.
The pact between the two parties was only launched a week ago and was heavily promoted by Conservative leader David Cameron and UUP leader Sir Reg Empey.
The row centres on the refusal of the UUP to drop the word Ulster from the link-up's official title- the Ulster Conservatives and Unionists — New Force.
Mr Peel today said: "As Conservatives we wished to ensure that branding reflected the non-sectarian and national nature of our joint initiative — with successful candidates taking the Conservative whip in Europe and in Westminster."
He claimed it had been agreed the new group's working title would be the Conservatives and Unionists, with the branding matching Conservative Party colours.
"I have come to the conclusion that the UUP does not have the interests of Conservatism at heart," he said.
"Rather, as the UUP is facing a severe financial crisis, it sees the Conservatives as a means out of its financial and electoral woes.
The proposed voting pact was endorsed by the two sets of party members at separate meetings last week.
It was announced the deal would not see a merger of the parties but would see them field candidates on a joint ticket in European and Westminster elections.
Ulster Unionist MEP Jim Nicholson is to be the first person to stand on the joint ticket when he defends his seat in June's elections for the European Parliament.
Conservative spokesman on Northern Ireland Owen Paterson joined Sir Reg to launch the new venture that they said had been a year in the planning.
But Mr Peel, who sat on the joint committee that drew up the new way forward, claimed that behind the scenes there was division over the agreement and how it was launched.
"Last Thursday evening both the UUP and Conservatives (Northern Ireland area) councils met to agree a paper from the joint committee of the UUP and Conservatives," he said.
"The most substantive element of this paper was the name that the two parties would campaign under.
"The proposed name in the paper (Ulster Conservatives and Unionists — New Force) was essentially an arrangement to ensure that the paper would be passed by the UUP council."
He said that prior to the meeting the Conservatives received assurances via email from the UUP that despite the formal wording, the working title of the new political pact would be Conservatives and Unionists.
Mr Peel, who said he still supported Mr Cameron's leadership, claimed the UUP reneged on a deal not to brief the media and instead promoted their preferred name as the new movement's future title.
He said he did not want to back a political project that risked only relating to one side of Northern Ireland's divided community and called for a new focus on bread and butter issues.
He added: "We need to move forward politically and unfortunately the old die-hards in the UUP weren't willing to do that."
The Ulster Unionist Party said in a statement that it noted Mr Peel's comments.
"It is not our intention to become embroiled in a public spat with him, other than to say that the comments he makes about branding and logo are inaccurate, since both are still the topics of ongoing debate within the joint committee," it said.
"Mr Peel is a member of the Conservative Party and at this stage this is a matter for them to deal with." Northern Ireland's First Minister and Democratic Unionist leader Peter Robinson said it was sad to see a bitter civil war between disparate Tory and UUP elements.
"People will be astounded to see that UCUNF has, after less than a week in existence, descended into the type of
mud-slinging and acrimony that characterised the now-defunct UUP at its worst," he said.
"The community wants to see political unionism advancing through co-operation and the pursuit of real unionist policies.
"The DUP takes no pleasure in the fact that UCUNF has inherited from the old UUP the capacity for forming circular firing squads."
PA