The meeting between the Rev Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams went so well and apparently came so much out of the blue that it inevitably raises questions about how much private contact their parties have been conducting and since when.

The story of how these two men sat down together just six weeks from what had seemed the absurd scenario of Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionists sharing power will be a significant portion of Tony Blair’s legacy. It is unlikely to have been the aim of London and Dublin from the start of the peace process. But it is plausible that, when David Trimble’s tenure as First Minister began to go off the rails over the Provisional IRA’s refusal to disarm and disband, thoughts turned to bringing the extremes into the centre ground.

By December 2004, No 10 was confident that the DUP and Sinn Fein were about to go into business together. But Mr Paisley said that the Republicans would have “to wear sackcloth and ashes” to atone for their terrorist crimes, and the Provisionals robbed £26.5 million from the Northern Bank.

Mr Blair then struck upon the novel idea of sending Peter Hain to Northern Ireland to stir things up. The new carrot-and-stick strategy required the new secretary of state to endure becoming the most unpopular “viceroy” since direct rule was imposed in 1972.

“Hain the Pain”, as he came to be known, oversaw big cuts in local administration and public expenditure, threatening charges for water for the first time in the Province. He also sounded the death knell for its grammar schools.

Both measures, Mr Hain promised, could only be averted if the parties agreed a plan to restore devolution. By signing up to the St Andrews agreement in October, Mr Paisley claimed he had removed the threat to selective secondary education — but that left water.

That issue alone was contentious enough among locals to act as a catalyst for the DUP and Sinn Fein to give serious thought to reaching a deal.

At the same time Mr Blair was courting Mr Paisley, conscious that he was susceptible to a charm offensive that would turn the perennial outsider into a pillar of the Establishment. He discussed religion with Mr Paisley and gave his wife a peerage.

When, in the campaign for the recent Assembly election, water-metering emerged as the chief issue for voters, the success of the Government’s strategy was plain. Mr Paisley received a strong electoral endorsement — but since then callers to radio phone-in shows have made plain that if he failed to go into government with Sinn Fein they would be sending him their water bills.

Until Sunday Mr Hain was declaring that the bills were ready to be sent out to homes across Northern Ireland. Yesterday he announced that they would remain unposted.

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