Mrs Daphne Trimble, the wife of the Ulster Unionist leader, is to seek the party's candidacy in Mr Jeffrey Donaldson's Lagan Valley constituency at the next Westminster election. Dan Keenan reports.
If selected next month, Mrs Trimble would go head-to-head with Mr Donaldson, the man she voted for at the last British general election in 2001 but who defected to the DUP in January.
Mr Donaldson, now a key member of the DUP talks team, won the seat for the Ulster Unionists with some 56 per cent of the vote last time and has a huge majority of 18,342, making it one of the safest seats at Westminster.
Mrs Trimble announced her challenge yesterday, claiming that Mr Donaldson was an MP thanks to Ulster Unionist voters. She believed Lagan Valley unionists should have the option of a UUP candidate.
"I do not think the DUP speaks for the people of Lagan Valley," she said. "It is traditionally an Ulster Unionist seat and the people have always been represented by Ulster Unionists.
"Jeffrey's vote has always been an Ulster Unionist vote. It was Ulster Unionist voters who elected him and I think they deserve to have a representative at Westminster." Westminster elections are fought on a first-past-the-post basis. In last November's Assembly election, using PR, Mr Donaldson and running mate Ms Norah Beare won 19,069 first preferences between them on a lower turnout than in the general election. Although standing for the UUP, Mr Donaldson stood on an anti-Belfast Agreement platform and was severely critical of the leadership position adopted by Mr David Trimble.
The DUP won a total of 8,475 first preferences. Both Mr Donaldson and Ms Beare defected to the DUP six weeks after the Assembly election. The DUP talks team, including Mr Donaldson, yesterday laughed off the suggestion of a challenge by Mrs Trimble.
Mr Donaldson said he was confident the voters would stand by him.