THE prospects for reviving devolution in Northern Ireland suffered another blow yesterday when Jeffrey Donaldson completed his divorce from David Trimble's moderate unionism and joined the Rev Ian Paisley's hardline party.

The leader of the anti-Good Friday Agreement Democratic Unionists hailed Mr Donaldson's defection and that of two other prominent Ulster Unionist assembly members as ''a historic day for unionism''.

Mr Paisley, already buoyed by the assembly election results in November, immediately sought to capitalise on the move of the MP and MLA for North Antrim and his two colleague, Arlene Foster and Norah Beare.

Announcing a recruitment drive aimed at sparking an exodus from the UUP, he said: ''I believe this is the beginning of large numbers of people who always voted Official Unionist, who are now going to join with us,'' claimed the MP and MLA for North Antrim.

The defections boosted the ranks of the DUP at Stormont to 33, nine more MLAs than the UUP, and also made the DUP the largest unionist party at Westminster with six MPs compared to the UUP's five.

At a Stormont press conference, Mr Donaldson, the MP and MLA for Lagan Valley, complained of ''vindictiveness and naked hatred'' for his opposition to Mr Trimble's leadership but insisted he made no apology for his actions.

He then launched a scathing attack on his former party leader, claiming he had abandoned core unionist principles. ''I am proud to be part of a team capable of providing leadership to the unionist community, not like the leadership of the party I left, not like a leadership which has no bottom line, a leadership which does not know how to lead the unionist community,'' he declared.

However, senior Ulster Unionists insisted the defections would enable their party to rebuild.

Downing Street sought to play down Mr Donaldson's defection, saying it was ''entirely a matter for Jeffrey Donaldson and the DUP'', while Sinn Fein was philosophical about Mr Donaldson's switch, saying it should not change a thing.