DUP leader and First Minister Peter Robinson and former SDLP leader John Hume feature in previously confidential files from 1985 released today by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.

The file concerns a multiparty conference at Airlie House in Virginia, USA, in January 1985 which was attended by the head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service, Sir Ken Bloomfield.

In his report to the British secretary of state, Douglas Hurd, Bloomfield described the DUP leader in unusually glowing terms: "Three days exposure to Peter Robinson amply demonstrated what a forceful, articulate and crafty politician he is."

Bloomfield contrasted Robinson’s performance with that of the SDLP representatives at the conference and particularly the party leader, John Hume.

‘Mother Teresa’

“John Hume is normally in his element in the United States where he is widely regarded as occupying a position somewhere between

Charles Stewart Parnell

and

Mother Teresa

, ” he wrote.

“On this occasion he gave a chilling impression of political bankruptcy, rather like a man who has lost a fortune by backing a particular number consistently at the roulette table and continues to stare at that number even though he no longer has a stake to play.”