And I think it's a bad time to be changing tack quite honestly

And I think it's a bad time to be changing tack, quite honestly."Bertie Kerr is a councillor and a member of the party executive, but on Friday night he and the rest of the 860 will all be equal, the party hierarchy and the grassroots casting just one vote each. Some of the 860 have a close involvement in politics but others have only an occasional interest, which makes voting patterns difficult to predict.London leader-writers may be urging the delegates to branch out and opt for radical new directions, but the heart of the party consists of men and women like Bertie: wary, conservative people who show few signs of aching for intoxicating new departures. His son, David, appeared in jeans and check shirt, a tall intense young man, and he and father sat on either side of the Aga.Bertie is friendly but has no airs and graces: indeed, like many Protestants this is a matter of some pride with him. He referred to it as soon as he was asked what sort of direction the party should take. "In my opinion it's very simple," he began in his mellifluous Fermanagh accent. "We've been our straight, honest, blunt selves for the last 25 years and we've took a hell of a battering and we've stayed together and we still have our pride and we still have our authority and our majority. Their decision may well be a defining moment, indicating whether Unionism is to participate in the peace process or remain on the sceptical sidelines.The Kerrs are a most welcoming family.

Mrs Kerr settled us in the living room, providing tea, scones, butter and jam. Bertie arrived from the farm in his working clothes, having tended to his beef cattle and pedigree Charolais. The Kerrs are a pleasant family who live in a lovely place, a spotlessly tidy farmhouse with a commanding view over a beautiful part of Fermanagh, Northern Ireland's lakeland. Eighty miles from Belfast, 14 from the border, this a place of unspoilt rolling green countryside, of loughs and trout lakes. But a nearby, slightly dilapidated Orange hall, Union Jack fluttering outside, serves as a reminder that it is also a land of perpetually unfinished political business. Bertie Kerr is one of up to 860 grassroots delegates who will tonight file into Belfast's Ulster Hall to choose the next leader of the Ulster Unionists, Northern Ireland's largest political party. "The message on the day that these profit figures are announced is that British Gas made pounds 1.368bn in profits last year, pounds 43 every second, but slashing jobs and axing customer services has hit customers hard 18 million customers are losers.

Directors are big gainers, sharing big pay increases and share options."New gas contracts, page 20. "Aye," said a man who knows Bertie Kerr. "He'd be a good Unionist to talk to, you'll meet no more decent man in a long day's walk He'd be typical enough His son isn't afraid to speak up either." And so it proved. Earnings per share were cut to 9.8p from 11.3p, but the interim dividend for shareholders has been held at 6.4p per share.Labour's consumer affairs spokesman Nigel Griffiths accused the Government of sitting on the sidelines as British Gas went from bad to worse.

The company blamed a series of warm winters, new supplies and regulatory constraints for the surplus of gas, that forced down prices.Pre-tax profits fell to pounds 797m from pounds 853m in the first six months of 1994. It has been taking on more staff and re-opening some of the customer service facilities it closed."The news came as it was revealed that British Gas profits had dipped for the first half of the year. "What that means to us is that the measures which British Gas has put in place after realising that it had gone too far in staff cuts, closure of customer services facilities etc, are starting to pay off. "In fairness, the rate of increase in complaints is beginning to slow," he said.