Unionist Politicians have today hit out at Tony Blair following his speech on global terrorism and religious intolerance, in which he compared loyalist paramilitaries to Muslim extremists.

In his speech, the Prime Minister said that there was a debate going on inside government about how to "counter extremism in British communities."

He added that Ministers have been advised never to use the term "Islamist extremist," as it may cause offence to "perfectly decent-minded people - who say the extremists who commit these acts of terrorism are not true Muslims."

He continued by saying: "They are no more proper Muslims than the Protestant bigot who murders a Catholic in Northern Ireland is a proper Christian. But, unfortunately, he is still a "Protestant" bigot. To say his religion is irrelevant is both completely to misunderstand his motive and to refuse to face up to the strain of extremism within his religion that has given rise to it."

Commenting on Tony Blair's speech, the DUP's Ian Paisley Junior expressed his disdain at the comparisons made saying that it was "a studied insult of the protestant community."

He said: "The sentiments expressed are on a par with the ill judged comments of Mary McAleese when she compared Protestants to Nazi’s.

"The PM's comments singling out Protestantism as a root cause of terrorism is so unbalanced that it not only reveals the true nature of the PM but also identifies a weakness in his judgements, his character and his understanding."

He continued by saying that the Prime Minister had "singularly failed to point the finger at the IRA, the Catholic Church that refused to condemn years of IRA terrorism, the Pope who blessed gold crucifixes for IRA hunger strikers and a system that justified the systematic extermination of protestant communities along Ulster’s border and a system of religion that insists on separate schools for its children for fear they might meet protestant children."

The DUP member questioned: "Why is the PM so biased when it comes to understanding Northern Ireland? Why does he feel it necessary to attack the character and identity of the majority of citizens who are loyal and indeed victims of IRA terrorists?"

He concluded that the speech was a "deliberate character assassination of the protestant community" and an "ill thought out and indeed provocative attack on the Protestant community."

Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey also hit out at Mr Blair's comments, saying that there were "far-fetched" and "dangerous."

The Prime Minister's speech was the first of three on foreign policy and terrorism and comes three years after the beginning of the Iraqi war.

(EF/SP)