Last Updated: 28/02/2007  11:20

Welsh leader under fire for Paisley joke

Wales's First Minister Rhodri Morgan faced criticism today for a joke about Democratic Unionist Party leader Ian Paisley on his deathbed.

DUP leader the Rev Ian Paisley

Mr Morgan made the quip in the presence of Wales and Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

He said Dr Paisley converted to Catholicism before dying because the DUP leader thought it better to lose a Catholic than a Protestant, the Western Mail reported.

The joke was made at a dinner on the eve of the Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno last Thursday night.

Guests paid more than £90 for a ticket to attend the event at a hotel in the North Wales town.

The First Minister's spokeswoman said: "The joke used by the First Minister is an old one, which has been doing the rounds for a long time. He certainly did not intend it to cause offence."

The controversy could not have come at a more sensitive time as Northern Ireland prepares for Assembly elections on March 7th.

PA

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