A tribute to Ulster’s A.J.P. Taylor

Northern Ireland may not be the most sectarian place in the world, but it is surely among the most begrudging. Ulstermen often resent their compatriots’ successes. Yet every now and again, the Province surprises. It did so last week — when it was announced that Paul Bew, the Professor of Politics at Queen’s University Belfast, had been elevated to the peerage. Far from being the cue for an orgy of resentment, the news was greeted with almost universal pleasure.

Until 15 years ago, Bew was an obscure Marxist historian at a provincial university. Today, he is the A.J.P. Taylor of the Northern Ireland peace process. He has become well-nigh ubiquitous on the airwaves and in the corridors of power — on both sides of the Irish Sea. Above all, he was the key supporter in academe of the former Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble. As a senior No. 10 official told The Spectator, ‘He is, quite simply, the most influential academic in the affairs of the island of Ireland today.’

Bew has taught almost everyone in Ulster, from Ian Paisley Jr to the former IRA prisoner Anthony McIntyre, editor of the Blanket and one of Gerry Adams’s most articulate critics within republicanism. They all respect him for his impartiality — another remarkable achievement for one so politically committed. With his unique admixture of innocence and cunning, no one knows better how to charm the serpents in the Queen’s snake-pit.

Henry Patterson, Bew’s main academic collaborator, observes that one of the keys to understanding his success lies in his background as the product of a mixed marriage: very few specialists in Northern Ireland have an equally strong grasp of the political dynamics of Belfast, Dublin and London.