Unionist leader adamantly refuses to shuffle off into the history books
By all accounts David Trimble, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), is a hard man to like. Cold, pedantic and distant, the Bangor man is not the type to attract a large personal following. In spite of this, and of my political differences with him, I can’t help but admire the man. I count myself as a stubborn person but even I must doff my cap to Trimble when it comes to bloody-mindedness.
Trimble was once seen as a hard-line unionist. He won the leadership of his party in 1995 on the back of his “steadfastness” at the first Drumcree stand-off. Back then the thought of Trimble as peacemaker, toast of foreign leaders, Nobel Prize winner, would have seemed absurd.
To give the man his due, in spite of his background, he saw that unionism needed to be part of the peace process. He correctly deduced that a good old-fashioned unionist boycott of the peace talks would be counter-productive. The deal he eventually signed, although unpleasant in many ways to unionists, did secure NI’s place in the UK for as long as a majority wished it. Getting all of nationalist Ireland to accept this principle was an historic step forward.
Suffice to say that the DUP, the Orange Order and half of Trimble’s own party, begged to differ. For them the agreement was a betrayal, a first step to a united Ireland, a reward for republican violence. From the day nearly six years ago that Trimble signed up to the Good Friday Agreement (GFA), he has been a hate figure for hard-line unionists. By agreeing to the release of paramilitary prisoners and to the formation of a government with Sinn Fein, he secured his place in unionist demonography as a “Lundy”.
Extreme unionists have always reserved particular venom for those whom they consider “sell-outs”. Over the past six years Trimble has been the subject of unrelenting pressure. It’s dangerous for him to walk the streets of his own constituency. After narrowly keeping his Westminster seat in 2001, he and his wife were attacked outside the count by a mob. One former friend even suggested that he go off to the woods with a bottle of whiskey and a revolver.
His party’s support has gradually drained away as unionist disaffection with the GFA has increased. Back in 1998 his party had 10 MPs. Only 5 remain today. From being the largest party in NI, almost as of right, the UUP are now third. Perhaps most damagingly of all, Trimble has been the target of unremitting attack from within his own party.
His nemesis, Jeffrey Donaldson, left the party in January having failed several times to overthrow Trimble. Still the back-biting continues as senior “colleagues” call for his head. At his party’s AGM this Saturday he will face not one but two stalking-horse leadership challengers. Now even pro-agreement allies are plotting behind his back, reasoning that Trimble is so unpopular and divisive that he has to go. Poor Davey doesn’t seem to have a friend in the world
Despite all this, Trimble dismisses all talk of resignation. Like a good Ulsterman, he digs in his heels and refuses to budge. As an intelligent man, he must know that his position is now untenable. He must realise that no good can come, either to him or his party, by hanging on to the bitter end. Perhaps then, he’s taking some perverse pleasure in denying his enemies the satisfaction of a quiet exit.