Cenotaph Wreath rules altered to keep Belfast peace plan alive

Tony Blair's government altered the rules on party leaders laying wreaths at the Cenotaph to keep unionists on board with Northern Ireland's peace process, newly released files show.

- Ben Quinn Caroline Davies

The decision in the run-up to the Remembrance Sunday ceremony in 2004 changed rules drawn up in 1984 which stated the leader of a party with at least six MPs at a previous general election could lay a wreath.

That rule meant that David Trimble, whose Ulster Unionist party (UUP) had won six seats in the 2001 election, could take part while his arch-rival, Ian Paisley, could not as his Democratic Unionist party (DUP) had won just five seats. However, when Jeffrey Donaldson defected from the UUP to the DUP in 2003, the balance was reversed, and the DUP complained they were being treated unfairly compared with the UUP.