Blair: ready to leave Sinn Fein behind

"Americans have expressed absolute revulsion at IRA murders"

Clinton Backs Blair in Talks on Ulster

The Prime Minister has had talks on Northern Ireland with US President Bill Clinton.

During a 25-minute meeting in Denver, the Prime Minister brought President Clinton up to date with what the Government has been trying to do to move the peace process forward.

Mr Blair said he was very grateful for the president's private and public expressions of support.

Government sources said the president was very supportive of the approach the Prime Minister and the Irish government had taken, and Mr Blair particularly appreciated Mr Clinton's echoing of his statement that the ball is now in Sinn Fein's court.

A Government source said: "They (Sinn Fein) know full well that the way ahead is an unequivocal ceasefire and adherence to the Mitchell principles."

But British officials would not say whether the offer of access to talks still stood should the IRA call a ceasefire.

"What has been made clear throughout is that a ceasefire would have to be unequivocal, it would have to be clear in word and deed, and there would have to be a clear commitment to the six Mitchell principles", said one source.

"I think there is no point denying that what happened in Lurgan has been a set back."

There were signs at the G7 summit that the Americans were increasingly willing to take a lead on Northern Ireland from the Blair Government.

One White House news source said the US would be following Britain's lead. At their bilateral meeting yesterday, Mr Blair did not press Mr Clinton to sever all connections with Sinn Fein.

It emerged that Government officials offered Sinn Fein a seat at the Ulster peace talks, provided the IRA announced and held a ceasefire for six weeks.

The deal was wrecked when IRA assassins killed two RUC officers in Lurgan just three days later.

On Friday night, Mr Blair warned that he was quite prepared to leave Sinn Fein behind unless they help bring about an unequivocal IRA ceasefire.

He said: "It has always been the case that there must be an unequivocal cease-fire. And what is important is that, if they are not prepared to do that, if they are not prepared to come into these talks on the basis of the road of peace and democratic methods, when everything has been done to try and make it clear that is something which should happen, if they go ahead and they carry on with their violence, then we have got to build a lasting settlement without them."

For the Prime Minister, the issue has taken on an urgency which could crowd out other issues on the agenda as the leaders of seven of the world's seven largest industrialised nations meet in Denver this weekend.

But Mr Blair made plain as he flew into the US on Friday his belief that the atrocity of this week's slaughter of Andrew Johnston and John Graham could have brought about a sea-change in the views of long-term Sinn Fein supporters based in the US.

"That is what is so important about coming here and building support and saying to the American people: 'Those of you that had some attachment to Sinn Fein realise that any money you give now ends up in policemen being killed in cold blood on the streets of Northern Ireland.'"

Blair Enraged by "Betrayal"

Mr Blair is clearly angry at the way in which he believes the IRA have sabotaged a Government initiative which was making progress and prospects had never been better for a breakthrough.

Clinton: urged not to give Sinn Fein credibility

The Downing Street spokesman said: "The conditions to make a significant step forward in the peace-process had not been better for a considerable time because of what people were feeling on the ground, because the politics were coming together and because the relations on the subject with the US, with Ireland were excellent and because there was a real feeling that there was the possibility of progress."

He added that Mr Blair would reveal to the Commons on Wednesday what had gone on behind the scenes in order to foster this new mood which risks being wrecked by the Lurgan incident.

The British Government have been cheered by statements from the FBI and from US backers of Sinn Fein, vowing to track down the killers and urging a cease-fire to head off full-scale civil war in the province.

Mr Blair rejected suggestions that, in his statement to MPs on Wednesday, he would effectively be offering Sinn Fein one more chance.

"No, the position is as it has always been. And the decision that they've got to make, the moment of decision if you like, is that they've got to decide that they are going to give up violence and join in the democratic and peaceful path. And, if they don't do that, then there is no future for them within the talks process, and the process which leads to a lasting settlement," he said.