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IRA 'must become old boys group' | |
(about 5 hours later) | |
Conservative leader David Cameron said he wants the IRA to become an "old boys association". | |
Mr Cameron, who is on a visit to Northern Ireland, said he would prefer if "the IRA went away". | |
However, he said it "would be acceptable if they eventually became an old boys organisation". | |
During the Troubles, the IRA killed several Tory politicians and came close to killing Conservative leader Margaret Thatcher in Brighton in 1984. | |
Mr Cameron, on his second visit within a year, was speaking during a visit to the PSNI training college. | |
He went on to warn that Sinn Fein must not only join the Northern Ireland Policing Board but "must work fully with the PSNI". | |
Five people were killed in the Brighton bomb blast in 1984 | |
Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde and Mr Cameron held talks during which they discussed the row over the government's refusal to fully fund a new college outside Cookstown. | |
Justice | |
Asked afterwards if a Conservative government would provide the money, he said he could not make promises ahead of budgets and spending rounds. | |
He is also due to meet the Institute of Directors and the sisters of murdered Belfast man Robert McCartney who are continuing a fight for justice. | |
Mr Cameron's last visit to Northern Ireland was in December, a few days after he was elected leader when he pledged to promote the peace process. | Mr Cameron's last visit to Northern Ireland was in December, a few days after he was elected leader when he pledged to promote the peace process. |
BBC Northern Ireland political correspondent Gareth Gordon said: "Since then, the Northern Ireland Conservatives have had a renaissance of a kind with some defections from the Ulster Unionists. "They say their membership here now stands at 350 and they'll also meet Mr Cameron in the afternoon before he returns to England." | |