The DUP leader has rejected allegations that recent comments of his indicate an ambiguous attitude to the Loyalist Volunteer Force. The Rev Ian Paisley made his response following criticism by the two loyalist fringe parties, the Alliance Party and the Irish News.
Dr Paisley has also complained to the Press Complaints Council in Britain over an editorial in yesterday's Belfast-based nationalist Irish News suggesting he was "equivocal" about the outlawed loyalist paramilitary body.
He has also sent a strong letter of complaint to the newspaper about the editorial's "tone and content". He has called on the British press watchdog to take action against it for alleged bias.
Dr Paisley also has sent a file of statements and press cuttings to the council in which he "unambiguously" condemned the LVF, according to his son, Mr Ian Paisley Jnr.
Two recent comments by the DUP leader in which he referred to the LVF - one of the bodies suspected of the sectarian murder of Catholic GAA official Mr Gerry Devlin at the weekend - triggered the criticism from Alliance, the Ulster Democratic Party, the Progressive Unionist Party, and the Irish News.
At a press conference last Monday, he claimed that "loyalist organisations opposed to the LVF are gathering information for the security forces so that they can move against the LVF".
He added: "If that's so that means that not only is the government condoning what the loyalists at the table are about but they are also in a position to remove people who politically are opposed to them. Those that they want to be removed will be removed by the government.
"That is too dreadful to contemplate. This Labour government has thrown away all vestiges of being tied to democracy."
The PUP and UDP said the allegations of the UVF or UDA colluding with the RUC were both nonsense and dangerous.
Mr David Ford, the Alliance Party's secretary, said Dr Paisley's comments suggested he did not approve of the RUC taking action against the LVF.
In an interview with the Belfast Telegraph on Saturday week, Dr Paisley said his view of the LVF was that he "cannot support any organisation that is prepared to indulge in violent deeds. That is clear across the board".
And he added: "The thing I think also is what you are finding now is that the British government is not honest.
"I said this to Mr Blair - `You are not honest. You are dishonest. You are going to go for the LVF, but you are not going for the UVF.
" `You are going to carry out discriminatory practices in law against people who don't agree with your policies'.
"If the LVF were supporting the British government policies, there would be nothing done about them."
Mr Paisley Jnr said only the most "politically retarded mind" could interpret such comments as indicating an ambiguous attitude to the LVF.
Dr Paisley's comment, "too dreadful to contemplate", did not refer to his being opposed to the arrest of LVF members, but to the British government allegedly engaging in a process which could create a bloody "internecine" feud involving loyalist bodies, he added.
The DUP was previously criticised for allowing its former Mid-Ulster MP, the Rev William McCrea, to appear at a rally in support of the Portadown loyalist Billy Wright, who is viewed as the founder of the LVF.
Mr Paisley Jnr again defended Mr McCrea's action, stating that the former MP was showing solidarity with Wright at a time when other loyalist paramilitaries were threatening to kill him.
"Willie was standing on the basic principle that no matter who you are, no one is entitled to kill you," he added.
Mr Paisley Jnr, in reference to a recent DUP-UK Unionist rally at Carryduff, on the outskirts of Belfast, where some people chanted "LVF, LVF", said the event was a public meeting and neither the DUP nor the UK Unionist Party could be held responsible for the antics of a small section of the crowd.
