I first became aware of David Trimble some time in the early 1990s. I was impressed. He was way more impressive in his media appearances than any other unionist of the time. I was so impressed that – wearing my National Association of Conservative Graduates hat – I interviewed him. We covered the basics of the Ulster issue, why Northern Ireland existed, and, er… memory escapes me. The fun part was when he claimed that the Conservative Party had ceased to be a British party. At the time pretty stinging.
Sometime later, after he had become leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, and about a week after the IRA had bombed Canary Wharf, thus ending their ceasefire, I walked in to his Westminster office – I had somehow managed to acquire a pass – and declared that I was working for him. And so I did for the next year. In that year, we had Drumcree II, John Major’s government losing its majority and endless talks about talks in Belfast.
About the first thing he said to me on that day I joined, after asking whether or not I took sugar in my tea, and quite unprompted, was that the British governent was forever on the lookout for a unionist leader who would on the one hand keep unionists in line while on the other making endless concessions.
I was lucky enough to have a desk in his office – there is less space than you might think in the Palace of Westminster. I learnt an awful lot.
I learnt that Henry VIII died a Catholic. I learnt some very grim things about the Republic of Ireland’s justice system and the retribution the IRA visited on Ulster Britons after Bloody Sunday. I learnt that there is a difference between a member of the Irish peerage and and Irish member of the British peerage. I learnt that there were moles in the RUC. I learnt that if you receive an invitation to a Royal Banquet the stated dress code is black tie but don’t you dare turn up in anything less than white tie. I learnt that there was a time when ballots were not secret. Your vote would be published. David looked up to see how one of his ancestors had voted in a previous election. He was delighted to find that he had voted Liberal. I learnt that joining the Orange Order was “something you just did” and that a lot of loyalists have Irish names (O’Fee, O’Hare, that sort of thing). I learnt that journalists will twist your words at the drop of a hat, while giving your opponents a free pass. I learnt that the IRA is something of an aristocracy and that beyond the leadership quite a lot of them are really rather thick. I learnt that internment is essential in defeating terrorism.
I also saw him lose his temper now and then. It was quite something to see so long as you weren’t on the receiving end, his face turning a very deep red indeed. By far the best explosion was the day one of his fellow Ulster politicians showed up. Within five minutes – it may have been less – the two were shouting at one another at the top of their voices. The meeting was not a success.
It wasn’t all shouting though. At some point in the day he would just stop being the leader of a political party and start playing Windows Solitaire.
To my mind if you want to do good in Ulster you have to understand the issue. That’s not so easy when an awful lot of people are trying to obscure it. Clue: it has nothing to do with religion and nothing to do with civil rights. David was very helpful in this regard. The upshot was Ulster for Beginners which I rather self-indulgently re-published here a while back.
Sadly, David’s understanding of the issue was not – in my eyes at least – combined with a strategy for getting the word out. Very quickly, his leadership descended into a series of fire-fighting actions which I felt took away from the key job of making the case for unionism.
I left shortly before the 1997 Blair landslide. It was a good time to leave. The Labour Party had never held unionism in any great affection and was determined to make some sort of deal with the IRA. The result was the Good Friday Agreement with the nonsense of power sharing and later on the abolition of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. It also included a promise from the IRA about disarmament which they probably didn’t mean at the time but after 9/11 probably did.
David became the first First Minister of Northern Ireland’s new devolved government but it didn’t last. What he didn’t see – I didn’t either – was that power sharing meant that voters had to elect the most extreme representatives their tribe could offer. The result was that the moderates of the Ulster Unionist Party and the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party were to all intents and purposes wiped out. So, it was with Trimble who eventually lost his Westminster seat.
David Trimble was one of the smartest, most knowledgeable people I have ever met. He combined that with an unusual ability – certainly amongst unionists – to get his message across. Had he been a mainland politician he would almost certainly have been a member of the Cabinet. It was even at one point suggested that he should join the Cabinet just the way he was. They say you should never meet your political hero. Well, I met mine and got to know him very well. And I am glad I did.
David Trimble as I remember him. Taken in the office at a time when taking photos on the Parliamentary estate was forbidden.
Quite. The British government does not believe in Northern Ireland existing. As for Mr Trimble, in political terms his legacy was polarisation with the two communities going to the DUP (who were more robust) and Sinn Fein, who were openly evil. From your very good pen portrait of him, it sounded as if he was a decent man, but swimming in a fast-flowing river where the currents carried all before it.
Well said Mr Crozier. Having not quite met him on a couple of of occasions in the early 1990s at mainland pro-union events, his abilities were clear (just as clear as the misrepresentation of his character, like that of Brian Faulkner before him, by the usual suspects in the mainstream media).
Very interesting!
Today I leaned Patrick worked in David Trimble’s office. Interesting article!
I think it is fair to say that the British political establishment would rather Northern Ireland did not exist. How else to explain the slapdash Northern Ireland Protocol?
By the 1990s the IRA were on their last legs. They were completely infiltrated by informers. Yet the British government, which could have destroyed the IRA, chose to give them a power sharing government. The obvious result of this was to reward the party of violence, Sinn Fein, and therefore drive the Protestant people to vote for the DUP as a reaction. The more moderate parties got crushed. Nice result.
This! (And thanks for the ‘I learnt’ list; I flatter myself that most of them I already more-or-less knew, but I’ll keep the sticky bun warning in mind.)
Recent events have seen me commenting on how Sri Lanka’s politicians and voters interacted over time to replace the very peaceful coexistence with which they started out after the Empire with an unusually vicious civil war (see my and others’ comments in this thread). The analogy is extremely distant (one could argue that power-sharing rules were very much absent) but perhaps not quite vacuous.
A very kind obit.
Either the area is part of the United Kingdom or it is part of the Republic of Ireland – it can not be both.
The basic issue can not be fudged.
Sinn Fein IRA will only agree to something if it harms the Union – that is obvious, and it is why talks with them are (at best) a waste of time. As Norman Tebbit has often pointed out, the IRA was on the floor (it was defeated) – but then London rode to their rescue.
The London establishment should not be trusted.
“Devolution” – that is an illusion, as abortion and other basic matters have shown. If some judge can go tell you to go stand on your head (over just about anything) you do not have self government.
As John Enoch Powell argued – just treat the area is a part of the United Kingdom, no special government in Stormont (which was NOT even wanted in 1921).
As for the security matter – the B. Specials prevented farmers being driven off their land by murder (or the threat of murder) by the IRA – but London insisted that the B. Specials be disbanded, so that the border lands could become dominated by the Nationalist community, with Unionist farmers driven off their land.
Lastly on religion. It is a great mistake to confuse tribal banners with sincere religious faith. Some great Unionists have been Catholics – and Sein Fein IRA has never really been Catholic.
If you want to check that – just ask them their opinion on basic Catholic doctrines, such as opposition to abortion.
Waving a green banner does not make someone a Catholic – and green is not the colour of the Roman Catholic Church anyway.
By the way – green is not the historic colour of Ireland either, in heraldry the colour of Ireland was blue.
By coincidence (it was coincidence) the bodyguard of William III was known as the Blue Guard – and many of them were Dutch Catholics opposed to King Louis XIV (the “Sun King”) of France.
John K:
Sounds like the Oslo Piece Plan.
Arafat’s PLO was languishing in exile and West Bank Palis were gravitating to the moderate voices of the local leadership based on old Jordanian families. Israel’s Lefties rehabilitated Arafat, brought him back from exile, and installed a thug state that destroyed the pragmatic local leadership.
Patrick, I have known you for more than 30 years and I did not remember that you had worked for David Trimble. Well, that’s a new piece of information.
A very nice write-up. In terms of physical appearance, apart from the spectacles, I imagine he rather resembled Sir Robert Peel, another political hero of mine.
May the good man rest in peace.
I’d say you were extraordinarily fortunate to have met – & worked – with DT, a complex individual wholly suited to the labyrinthine complexities & realities of Norn Ireland.
Yes Johnathan Pearce – may David Trimble rest in peace.
JohnK – I agree, apart from on the DUP.
The DUP are not the extremists the international establishment paints them as – they are fairly moderate, indeed they have proved to be rather weak in opposing London and Sinn Fein IRA. No offence meat to the DUP people as individual human beings.