Trimble frozen out of government
James Forsyth 5:54pm
The announcement that Lord Trimble will join the Israeli review into the flotilla
incident is a reminder that he has no role in the current government. Trimble takes the Tory whip and given that the party is not overly supplied with Nobel Prize winners, it is a bit of a surprise
that no role has been found for him.
In opposition, the word was always that relations between him and the new leadership of the Ulster Unionists, the Tories’ electoral allies in Northern Ireland, were not great. But the UUP leader has resigned since the election.
Now, it may well be that Trimble himself is the obstacle. Even his admirers admit that he is not the easiest man in the world to get along with. Or, it might be that Trimble is a victim of the Coalition. But it is rather odd that no job—ministerial or otherwise—has been found for him.
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Mycroft
June 15th, 2010 3:42pm Report this commentPerhaps we could send him to have a chat with Obama, as one Nobel peace prize winner to another.
Incidentally, he could only be said to have been 'frozen out' if he could naturally be expected to have been given a government post, and it is not in fact at all easy to think of any post that might be suitable for him.
despair
June 15th, 2010 4:16pm Report this commentWhat does it say about:
1. Trimble
2. His lack of a govt. job
3. James's post, and
4. Coffeehouse views
that this comment section is a barren wasteland?
Tristram Jones
June 15th, 2010 5:17pm Report this commentI am glad the coalition is being sensible here. Trimble is one of the most useless politicians around. I wish he'd just go away back to his home in NI and retire.
Philip
June 15th, 2010 6:58pm Report this comment.. or that the task he has been given is so with the Israeli affair is so challenging and thankless that he is one of the few Conservatives with sufficient experience and gravitas to be able to pull this off.
AAE
June 15th, 2010 10:38pm Report this commentTrimble was the one and only person in the world who could have refused the injustice of the release of paramilitary murderers (and thus the elevation of those murderers to the status of freedom fighters) as part of the Good Friday Agreement, he could have told Blair that another Bloody Sunday enquiry would be another propaganda victory for the IRA, but he believed, against the advice of others on his team, the leftist narrative, and failed, like O'Neill and Faulkner before him, not only his electorate but common decency and morality as well.
Many CoffeeHousers could have written the Saville report conclusions in 10 minutes flat because we understand why that enquiry was instigated, and I have no doubt that we could all predict the Flotilla report with equal accuracy. But if anyone is serious about truth finding on the Flotilla episode, look for someone with greater personal integrity than Trimble - Peace was not in his gift so he should not have even considered accepting the Nobel Prize, and I hope he was at least momentarily ashamed that his co-recipient John Hume immediately gave all his winnings to charities.
David Lindsay
June 15th, 2010 11:52pm Report this commentA state set up by the UN, but essentially by the US (as Bevin said at the time, Truman wanted to send the Jews to Palestine so that there would be none in New York), in surrender to anti-British Marxist terrorism. Does this remind Trimble of anyone?
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