Blair holds talks with IDS

Tony Blair and Ian Duncan Smith were meeting in Downing Street this afternoon to discuss the recently unearthed IRA hitlist said to target some of the most senior figures in the Tory party.

Unusually, both sides made the fact of the meeting public. Although the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition meet fairly regularly, such get-togethers are normally held on "privy councillor terms", meaning neither side discloses them.

No10 said the meeting was being held at the Conservative leader's request. Tory sources said Mr Duncan Smith was concerned to gain more information about the hitlist, which was discovered during police raids in Northern Ireland last week.

Most if not all the names on the list are said to be of leading figures during the premierships of Baroness Thatcher and John Major. But there were suggestions that the material, carrying detailed information mainly drawn from public sources, had been recently updated.

The discovery has been seized on by some on the Unionist side as evidence that the IRA's acceptance of the Good Friday peace agreement is a sham. But others have argued that the threat has been overstated.