Ulster talks are moved to secret London location in London

INTENSIVE TALKS to break the deadlock in the Ulster peace process moved to a secret location in London last night after Peter Mandelson, the new Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, met the parties in Belfast.

INTENSIVE TALKS to break the deadlock in the Ulster peace process moved to a secret location in London last night after Peter Mandelson, the new Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, met the parties in Belfast.

Leaders of the main parties, including Gerry Adams of Sinn Fein and David Trimble of the Ulster Unionist Party, will meet in London tomorrow for a fresh round of talks chaired by the independent negotiator, US Senator George Mitchell, to try to reach a break-through.

Sources in Belfast said Senator Mitchell would not have agreed to the new round of talks unless there was some hope of progress after weeks of deadlock over the refusal of the Ulster Unionists to share power with Sinn Fein in a new executive until the IRA begins decommissioning its weapons.

Mr Mandelson warned after preliminary meetings with the party leaders that there was nothing to replace the Good Friday Agreement. "There is no alternative. There is no Plan B," Mr Mandelson said, echoing the words used by Mr Trimble last week. "It's that or nothing."

"Trust is the key. There's got to be movement. There's got to be accommodation and that can only come through discussion in the coming weeks.

"I cannot deliver any party or leader. They will deliver themselves in building up the trust they need to implement the Agreement.

A source close to Senator Mitchell said: "There was a feeling that people were locked into Castle Buildings last time they met and there was a need to change the venue."

The deputy leader of the nationalist SDLP, Seamus Mallon, confirmed that party officials would leave the Province today to travel to London for Senator Mitchell's review and said he looked forward to working with Mr Mandelson.

The arrival of the new Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, who waved goodbye to his predecessor Mo Mowlam on the steps of Castle Buildings, appeared to provide a new momentum to the talks.

Martin McGuinness, the Sinn Fein negotiator, had rare praise for a British minister. After their first meeting, he said: "I certainly do believe he is the person who, within a very short period of time, will have a very good grasp of the situation. I believe he is a person with a high intellect."

But William Hague, the Conservative Party leader, was scathing about Mr Mandelson. "We will work with him. But ... it is right to say this about him and his re-appointment: if Roland Rat was appointed Northern Ireland Secretary I would say everybody should work with him but I would still point out he was a rat."

However, Mr Mandelson said he had been "chastened" and "humbled" by his fall from Cabinet office over his £373,000 home loan and said he would be doing things differently.

Appealing for the public to "give the guy a break," he said: "It was a scarring experience in many respects it was quite a traumatic experience. It's a humbling experience. You look at yourself and ask what's got into you. You step back and say, if you are going to be successful in politics, you have to do so perhaps in a slightly different way.

"I'm not making a big deal of it. I just think having thought about how I go about my life and conduct my politics I felt I could do things a bit differently and I will do."