a.^Reg Empey served as Acting First Minister from 1 July to 6 November 2001. b.^ During the periods of suspension of theNorthern Ireland Executive, theSecretaries of State for Northern Ireland assumed the responsibilities of the First Minister and deputy First Minister. At the time of suspension the Northern Ireland Secretary was John Reid.
Trimble began his career teaching law atThe Queen's University of Belfast in the 1970s, during which time he began to get involved with the paramilitary-linkedVanguard Progressive Unionist Party (VPUP). He was elected to theNorthern Ireland Constitutional Convention in 1975 and joined the UUP in 1978 after the VPUP disbanded.[2] Remaining at Queen's University, he continued his academic career until being elected as the MP for Upper Bann in 1990. In 1995 he was unexpectedly elected as the leader of the UUP.[2] He was instrumental in the negotiations that led to theGood Friday Agreement in 1998 and (along withJohn Hume) won theNobel Peace Prize that year for his efforts. He was later elected to become the first First Minister of Northern Ireland, although his tenure was turbulent and frequently interrupted by disagreements over the timetable forProvisional Irish Republican Army decommissioning.
Trimble resigned the leadership of the UUP soon after being defeated at the2005 general election. In June 2006, he accepted alife peerage in theHouse of Lords, taking the title ofBaron Trimble,ofLisnagarvey in the County ofAntrim.[3] He did not stand again for the Assembly, which finally reconvened in 2007, instead leaving the UUP to join theConservative Party.[4]
Trimble qualified as abarrister in 1969. He began that year as a Queen's University of Belfast lecturer, subsequently becoming Assistant Dean of the law faculty from 1973 to 1975, a senior lecturer in 1977 and head of Commercial and Property Law from 1981 to 1989.[10][14][15][16] He resigned from the university in 1990 when he was elected to Parliament.[10]
In 1983, as he sat in his office at the university, he heard gunshots which turned out to be those of the IRA killers ofEdgar Graham, a friend and fellow law lecturer.[16] He was asked to identify the body.[16] In 1994 he was told by theRoyal Ulster Constabulary that he had been targeted for assassination.[16]
Trimble was elected to theNorthern Ireland Constitutional Convention in 1975 as a Vanguard member forBelfast South and, for a time, served as the party's joint deputy leader, along with theUlster Defence Association'sGlenn Barr.[19] The party had been established byBill Craig to oppose sharing power with Irish Nationalists and to prevent closer ties with the Republic of Ireland; however, Trimble was one of those to back Craig when the party split over Craig's proposal to allow voluntary power sharing with the SDLP.[20]
Trimble joined the mainstreamUlster Unionist Party (UUP) in 1978 after Vanguard disbanded and was elected one of the four party secretaries.[12][19] He served as vice chairman of theLagan Valley Unionist Association from 1983 to 1985 and was named chairman in 1985.[14] He served as chairman of the UUP Legal Committee from 1989 to 1995 and as honorary secretary of the Ulster Unionist Council in 1990–96.[14]
Trimble's election as Leader came in the aftermath of his role in theDrumcree conflict, in which he led a controversial 1995Orange Order Protestant march, amidst Nationalist protest, down the predominantlyCatholicnationalist Garvaghy Road inPortadown, County Armagh.[7][15] Trimble andDemocratic Unionist Party (DUP) leaderIan Paisley walked hand-in-hand as the march, banned since 1997, proceeded down the road.[24] ManyIrish Catholics viewed it as insensitive, while many Protestants felt that it was a sign that Trimble was defending them.[15]
Shortly after the election, Trimble became the first UUP Leader in 30 years (sinceTerence O'Neill) to meet with theTaoiseach in Dublin.[15] In 1997, he became the first unionist leader since thepartition of Ireland in 1921 to agree to negotiate withSinn Féin.[25]
In the subsequent All-Party negotiations, Trimble led the UUP delegation and sat at the table with Sinn Féin, though in the eight months of the negotiations he never spoke directly to their leader,Gerry Adams.[7][14] Trimble at first opposed the appointment of former US SenatorGeorge Mitchell as the chairman of the all-party talks, but eventually accepted him.[20] The talks were successful, culminating in theGood Friday Agreement of 10 April 1998, which resulted in power-sharing with Nationalists.[12][14] Trimble was subsequently seen as instrumental in getting his party to accept the accord.[26] On 22 May 1998,voters in Northern Ireland approved the agreement, with 71 per cent in favour.[14]
Arguments over the extent ofProvisional Irish Republican Army decommissioning led to repeated disruptions during Trimble's tenure as First Minister. In particular:
The office of First Minister was suspended from 11 February 2000 to 30 May 2000. During this time, Trimble attempted to reassure party members who were sceptical of the post-Good Friday Agreement institutions, saying, "Unionists won the war... The Agreement gave unionism the opportunity to take control of Northern Ireland's constitutional future and to take a major stake in the government of our country... Does anyone really thinkGerry Adams wanted this?".[29]
Trimble resigned as First Minister on 1 July 2001 due to the continuing impasse arising from the IRA's refusal of his demands that it decommission its arms, as per the commitments all parties had signed up to in section 7 pt. 3 (page 25)[30] of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement[31] but he was re-elected on 5 November 2001[20]
The Assembly was suspended from 14 October 2002 until 2007 due to accusations of an IRA spy ring being operated there (the so-calledStormontgate Affair), which Trimble described as ten times worse thanWatergate.[32]
In 1998,Tony Blair announced a new judicial inquiry, theBloody Sunday Inquiry, into the killing of 13 unarmed civil rights marchers in Derry in 1972. A previous investigation, theWidgery Tribunal, into the same event had been discredited. During the debate in the House of Commons, Trimble was one of few dissenting voices. He said: "I am sorry to have to say to the Prime Minister that I think that the hope expressed by the Honourable Member for Foyle [John Hume] that this will be part of the healing process is likely to be misplaced. Opening old wounds like this is likely to do more harm than good. The basic facts of the situation are known and not open to dispute."[33] Reporting in 2010, theSaville Inquiry confirmed that all of the 13 killings and 13 woundings were unjustified.[34]
During a meeting with Blair in 2001, Trimble questioned the impartiality of judgeSir Brian Kerr, later chief justice of Northern Ireland and aLaw Lord appointed to theSupreme Court. This evidence and comments made about other public figures contradicts what Trimble's biographer considered a "lack of personal bigotry against Catholics".[35]
Atthe general elections of 2005, Trimble was defeated in Upper Bann by the DUP'sDavid Simpson in his bid for re-election to Parliament in Westminster.[36] The Ulster Unionist Party retained only one seat in Parliament (out of 18 in Northern Ireland) after the 2005 general election,[36] and Trimble resigned the party leadership on 7 May 2005.[37]
On 11 April 2006, it was revealed that Trimble would take a seat in theHouse of Lords as a workinglife peer.[38] On 21 May 2006 it was announced that he had chosen the geographical designation Lisnagarvey, the original name for his adopted home town ofLisburn. Subsequently, on 2 June 2006, he was createdBaron Trimble,ofLisnagarvey in theCounty of Antrim.[39] Eight months later, he confirmed that he would be standing down from theNorthern Ireland Assembly at the next election.[40]
Trimble announced on 17 April 2007 that he had decided to join theConservative Party in order to have greater influence in politics in the United Kingdom.[4] At the same time, however, he stated that he did not intend to campaign against the Ulster Unionist Party and proposed the idea of a future alliance between the Conservatives and the Ulster Unionists, similar to that which had existed prior to 1974 and the fallout of the Sunningdale Agreement. This idea became reality with the formation of theelectoral alliance ofUlster Conservatives and Unionists in late 2008. It was reported that if the Conservatives won the2010 general election, Trimble would receive a "significant" ministerial role, possibly in theCabinet.[41] In the end, however, Trimble was not offered any governmental orfront bench position following the formation of theConservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government.[42]
In 2016, Trimble supported theLeave side in theUK referendum on EU membership. He said that if he had ever had any doubts about the issue, "his eight years on the EU Select Committees in the House of Lords – which scrutinise the EU's operations – had convinced him of the need to cut ties with Brussels". He cited a study which found that economic growth in the UK reduced after the decision to enter the Common Market and reduced further when the UK went into the Single Market.[45]
The Commission investigated whether Israel's actions in preventing the arrival of ships in Gaza were in accordance withinternational law.[47] It focused among other things on the security considerations for imposing anaval blockade on theGaza Strip and the conformity of the naval blockade with the rules of international law; the conformity of the actions during the raid to principles of international law; and the actions taken by those who organised and participated in the flotilla, and their identities.[47]
On the commission were formerIsraeli Supreme Court Justice,Jacob Turkel, and formerTechnion University President,Amos Horev, as well two other members added in July 2010. (Bar Ilan University Professor of International LawShabtai Rosenne also served on the commission from its establishment until his death on 21 September 2010.[48]) In addition, the commission had two foreign observers, Trimble and former head of the Canadian military's judiciary,Judge Advocate General,Ken Watkin, who took part in hearings and discussions, but did not vote on the final conclusions.[49][50] The panel, in January 2011, concluded both Israel's naval blockade of Gaza and the interception of the flotilla "were found to be legally pursuant to the rules of international law".[51]
His son Nicholas was active within the Ulster Unionist Party and serving on theLisburn and Castlereagh City Council at the time of his father's death.[54] Nicholas Trimble was co-opted in 2016 to replace Alexander Redpath as a Councillor representing Downshire West on Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council.[55]
Trimble admitted in July 2019 that he was "forced" to change his position onsame-sex marriage and partnerships after voting against them, because of his lesbian daughter Vicky, who married her girlfriend Rosalind Stephens inScotland in 2017. He told peers in the House of Lords "I cannot change that, and I cannot now go around saying that I am opposed to it because I acquiesced to it. There we are."[56][57][58]
Trimble died on 25 July 2022 after a brief illness. He was 77 years old.[53][36]
In October 1998, Trimble and John Hume were awarded theNobel Peace Prize for their efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Northern Ireland.[59] TheNobel Institute noted:
As the leader of the traditionally predominant party in Northern Ireland, David Trimble showed great political courage when, at a critical stage of the process, he advocated solutions which led to the [Belfast (Good Friday)] peace agreement.[59]
At a ceremony in Paris on 8 December 1999, Trimble was appointed an Officier in theLégion d'Honneur by the French Government.[60]
^Sam McBride, 'Revealed | Trimble told PM of concern that judge hearing key case was "north Lurgan Catholic"'].Belfast Telegraph, 25 March 2025. Retrieved 25 March 2025
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