Ulster Unionist Party Leader Mike Nesbitt has challenged former Prime Minister Tony Blair on whether Sinn Fein ever threatened a return to IRA violence if guarantees of freedom from prosecution were not given.
Mike Nesbitt said:
"Normal rules of government and justice were set aside by the Blair government to appease republicans. Yes people want and desire peace, but not at any price. Secret deals between the UK Government and republicans should never have been part of the peace process.
"What I would like to know was if Republicans were actually threatening a return to violence if they didn't get these letters because, by what Tony Blair was saying today, it sounds like it. So, was Her Majesty's Government allowing itself to be held to ransom by the threat of a resumption of IRA terrorist violence?
"I was also intrigued by the former Prime Minister's rejection of the idea that the letters were kept secret from 'key players.' It would be most helpful if he could tell us just who he regarded as 'key players' and whether or not he personally informed them or instructed anyone else to do so?
"Tony Blair once said famously that he felt the hand of history on his shoulder. It appears the hand of the historian will not pen a favourable report on this ill-judged initiative by a PM so clearly desperate to pay any price for an agreement."