Suspended candidate threatens to sue Ulster Unionists
Anti-Agreement rebel and Ulster Unionist assemblyman, Peter Weir, is threatening to take legal action against his own party after he was suspended from membership.
Mr Weir was sanctioned for voting with the DUP at Stormont, possibly preventing him standing at the general election in North Down.
Against the wishes of the party leader, David Trimble, the North Down unionist association last year selected Mr Weir over Lady Sylvia Hermon, the wife of former RUC constable, Jack Hermon.
She is pro- Agreement and regarded as pro-Trimble, while he is anti-Agreement and has criticised the party for, as he believes, dropping its "No guns, no government" policy.
Mr Trimble has been biding his time and on Friday the party officers suspended Mr Weir from membership, believing this would mean a new candidate would be selected to fight UK Unionist MP, Robert McCartney.
Mr Weir, however, a barrister, is taking legal advice and says he will fight his suspension, claiming that he is still the legally selected candidate for North Down and that the body that suspended him does not exist in law.
