Politics in Northern Ireland is no joke but so many pictures were published of the Rev Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness laughing heartily - sometimes together - that the chief protagonists of Ulster's Troubles became known as the Chuckle Brothers.

An exhibition of some of those photographs - due to open today in Belfast - demonstrates how well earned the nickname was.

The images of the two men are being released as the latest move in a rebranding exercise for Northern Ireland.

Yesterday Messrs McGuinness and Paisley, accompanied by Gordon Brown and Brian Cowen, the new Taoiseach, were schmoozing American VIPs in an attempt to attract investment to the Province.

The Chuckle Brothers roadshow is drawing to an end: Mr Paisley retires in a few weeks. Mr McGuinness, however, will go on.

He is pictured here with four of his grandchildren and his mother, Peggy, who, on discovering an IRA beret and belt in her son's bedroom, fretted: “His father is a welder, his brothers are at the bricklaying and carpentry, but what will become of Martin?”

The photograph above, taken on the walls of Londonderry, shows a relaxed family man - a far cry from his days as Britain's Most Wanted. He now lives in a terrace house in the Bogside with his wife, Bernie, who owns a local café, and prefers to make a daily 170-mile commute to Stormont rather than miss a night under his own roof.

Two years ago he took one of his grandsons to a football match in Paris when Derry City played Paris St Germain. He recalled recently: “As we crossed the square outside Notre Dame, I thought, This is the first time I've been out of Ireland for myself.' All the other times, I was travelling for Sinn Fein.”

Mr Paisley is pictured above with two of his grandchildren, who range in age from toddlers to early twenties.

Recently, when Mr Paisley was looking forward to a birthday celebration, he said: “I'll be the biggest child at the party. They'll be on top of me. They'll be rolling under these seats. They'll be climbing on my

back. They'll be slapping me in the face. They'll be saying no to some of my requests. And I shall enjoy it thoroughly.”

The photographs were taken by John Harrison. The exhibition, The Northern Ireland Family, runs throughout this month at the Ormeau Baths Gallery. It also features intimate shots of the actor Liam Neeson, the singer and songwriter Duke Special and the poet Michael Longley.

Mr McGuinness has already served notice that jovial public appearances are unlikely to be a feature of his relationship with Northern Ireland's new First Minister, Peter Robinson.

The Sinn Fein MP said last month: “Now, you're not going to get Chuckle Brothers Part Two. What you are going to get are serious-minded people hopefully taking serious decisions, and I am going to strive and endeavour to bring to all of this the same sort of positive and constructive approach that I had during the time that Ian Paisley was there.”

Newspapers in Ireland have nicknamed the Robinson-McGuinness partnership the Brothers Grim.

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