WHATEVER substance there may be in William Hague's criticism of the government's allowing the release of republican and loyalist prisoners while the violence in Ulster continues, his attack on the Northern Ireland policy is nevertheless dangerous and disgraceful.

For it is timed at a juncture when the make-or-break review of the Good Friday agreement is due to get under way.

This, of course, follows Ulster Secretary Mo Mowlam's controversial declaration that the IRA's ceasefire remains intact and comes at a time when Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble, still keen to make the agreement work, is under fire from loyalist hard-liners who seem bent on wrecking it.

Which way, then, were Mr Hague's comments designed to tip the balance - at the very time when the agreement and the whole peace process is in such a precarious state already?

The only conclusion can be that they were meant to tip the scales in favour of the wreckers.

Another conclusion some might draw is that they reveal that old Tory unionist sympathies remain intact and that the party is not a neutral observer or influence in the quest for a political settlement in Northern Ireland. If this was not Mr Hague's intention, then he is too naM- ve and shallow a politician for the position of party leader.

But if this was Mr Hague's aim, he is recklessly and irresponsibly willing to risk plunging Ulster back into the abyss for the sake of scoring political points over Labour.

Furthermore, this is a clear betrayal of the bipartisan approach that Labour and the Conservatives had maintained since the Anglo-Irish agreement of 1985 when - despite doubts on either side - the party in Opposition had buried its differences so that a joint approach to peace moves in Northern Ireland was maintained.

Mr Hague's attack is not only a dishonourable breach of that accord, it will also suggest to some that the Tories do not want the peace process to succeed.

It will make the task of the hard-line unionist wreckers all the easier and the mistrust of the extreme republicans all the stronger.

And the depressing thing is that it comes at a time when the majority of people in Northern Ireland are desperate for the peace process to stay alive.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.