Trimble may prove to be Unionism’s last statesman

David Trimble, who has just died, has rightly been praised for his courage. History may prove him to have been Unionism’s last statesman. But the well-known people who sincerely eulogised him this week – Tony Blair, Bill Clinton, Jonathan Powell – all helped end his career. There are many good things to be said for the Belfast Agreement, and no one said them better than David, but it achieved at least one big, bad thing: it undermined moderation in Ulster politics. By persuading Trimble to move so far, Blair and co separated him from his political roots. This broke Trimble’s Unionists and empowered the much more sectarian followers of Ian Paisley. A comparable process on the other side weakened the non-violent SDLP and fulfilled Sinn Fein/IRA’s once-impossible dream of becoming the main nationalist party in Northern Ireland. Some say this tamed the extremes. I wonder. What Paisleyites and Sinn Fein excel at is fighting for their tribe’s share of the spoils.