Ian Paisley, Northern Ireland's veteran Protestant leader, will bow out of politics next week without shaking hands with his partner in government, deputy Sinn Fein leader Martin McGuinness, according to dpa. Paisley, 82, made it clear in interviews Friday that he would not succumb to calls for a "symbolic gesture" when he leaves office as Northern Ireland's First Minister next Thursday, and that his relationship with McGuinness would "remain strictly professional to the last." "We've never shook hands, I've said to him I don't believe in handshaking, it's whether you have a proper practice between you," Paisley told Britain's Press Association. Paisley formed a power-sharing government with nationalist Sinn Fein in Belfast in May, 2007, in a remarkable U-turn after decades of conflict and bitter emnity between his Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Fein of Gerry Adams. "We had a terrible time, but I think those bad old days are now past," Paisley said Friday. His successor, DUP finance minister Peter Robinson, is due to take over the party leadership Saturday and the post of first minister next week.
