Top cop: why we should now talk to al Qaeda

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Sir Hugh Orde, head of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, said he could not think of one terrorism campaign that ended without negotiation.

Sir Hugh, tipped as the next Met commissioner, added that 30 years of tackling the IRA had convinced him that policing was not enough to defeat terrorists.

He said: "If you want my professional assessment of any terrorism campaign, what fixes it is talking and engaging and judging when the conditions are right for that to take place.

"Is that a naive statement? I don't think it is. It is the reality of what we face." He cited his 2004 meeting with Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams as an example of how one-time enemies can become partners in peace.

Asked if he was saying "we should talk to al Qaeda", Sir Hugh told the Guardian: "I don't think that's unthinkable, the question will be one of timing."

He also warned the threat from dissident republicans in Ulster was at its greatest in five years.

Sir Hugh said Irish terrorists still wanted to bomb the UK mainland but lacked the capability. They are disorganised, "psychopathic" and probably numbering no more than 200 people, he added.