Former first minister and DUP leader Ian Paisley has died aged 88

Ian Paisley, DUP firebrand turned peacemaker, dies aged 88 DUP leader who led opposition to compromise with IRA in Northern Ireland before entering government with Sinn Féin had been ill for some timeHe ended up leading a power-sharing executive at Stormont - although he had supported the strike to bring one down 30 years earlier.

In her statement, Baroness Paisley said: "Although ours is the grand hope of reunion, naturally as a family, we are heartbroken," she said.

"We loved him and he adored us and our earthly lives are forever changed." Baroness Paisley said that his funeral would be private. The 88-year-old founder of the fundamentalist Free Presbyterian Church moved from being Ulster's "Dr No", who rejected political compromises with nationalists during the height of the Northern Ireland Troubles to ultimately getting into government with Sinn Féin after the 2006 St Andrews Agreement.

His hardline brand of politics saw off a succession of modernising unionist leaders, from prime minister Terence O'Neill in the 1960s to Nobel peace prize winner David Trimble in 2005. But after fulfilling his dream in 2005 of becoming the dominant force in unionism, Paisley finally agreed to share power with Sinn Féin, the party he once vowed to smash in the 1980s.

One of the most surprising developments in the latter years of his career was how he forged a warm relationship with Martin McGuinness, Sinn Féin's deputy first minister of Northern Ireland and one-time IRA chief of staff. Due to the fact that the unlikely couple running Northern Ireland were pictured almost always smiling together, the pair earned the nickname "the Chuckle Brothers". McGuiness paid tribute to Paisley on Twitter: "Very sad to learn that Ian Paisley has died. My deepest sympathy to his wife Eileen & family. Once political opponents – I have lost a friend."