Former Democratic Unionist Party leader Ian Paisley, has died aged 88.

Paisley – who in 1977 launched the ‘Save Ulster from Sodomy’ campaign in response to Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform – died this morning at his home.

Despite his inflammatory nature, former opponents have been queuing up to pay tribute.

“Over a number of decades we were political opponents and held very different views on many, many issues but the one thing we were absolutely united on was the principle that our people were better able to govern themselves than any British government,” said Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness, who was Paisley’s deputy first minister in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

“I want to pay tribute to and comment on the work he did in the latter days of his political life in building agreement and leading unionism into a new accommodation with republicans and nationalists,” he said.

Paisley’s widow Eileen stated that his funeral would be private and attended only by the immediate family.