David Trimble

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David Trimble (2007)

William David Trimble, Baron Trimble (born October 15, 1944 in Bangor , County Down ) is a Northern Irish politician . He was Chairman of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 1995 to 2005 and First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1998 to 2002 with two interruptions . In 1998 David Trimble was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize together with John Hume for his efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Northern Ireland conflict.

life and work

David Trimble was born in 1944 to a civil servant in Bangor, 20 km northeast of Belfast . He went to Bangor Grammar School and later studied law at Queen's University in Belfast. He finished his studies in 1968 with a Bachelor of Laws in order to work as a lecturer at the university. In 1969 he received his confirmation that he could work as a lawyer . From 1977 he went back to university and became a senior lecturer in the law department.

Political work

David Trimble has been a political advocate of Northern Ireland's Protestant Unionists , who seek to consolidate ties with Great Britain , since the early 1970s . He was a member of the elected constituent assembly of Northern Ireland from 1975 to 1976, which was set up in response to the failure of the Sunningdale Agreement between Great Britain, Ireland and Northern Ireland. Trimble spoke out in favor of a merger of the militant Vanguard Unionist Party (VUP) with the Social Democratic and Labor Party (SDLP), whereby he exposed himself to strong criticism. The VUP disintegrated in the late 1970s and Trimble joined the Ulster Unionist Party .

In 1985 David Trimble became a member of the Ulster Clubs , extremist alliances which fought against any influence of Ireland on development in Northern Ireland. In May 1990 Trimble was elected to the British House of Commons and, as part of the Orange Society, was one of the radicals within his party. He also opposed a peace agreement after the Irish Republican Army (IRA) armistice in February 1995 and rapprochement of the Catholic party Sinn Féin and was considered one of the most resolute opponents of an Irish-British framework agreement.

Start of peace work

On February 10, Trimble succeeded James Molyneaux as the leader of the UUP and began active peace work in this role by campaigning for a willingness to reconcile with the socially disadvantaged and Catholic interlocutors against the resistance in his own party, and in 1996 it came for the first time to the gesture of reaching out as a signal of reconciliation between him and his political opponent Gerry Adams , the chairman of Sinn Féin. His meeting with Irish Prime Minister John Bruton in Dublin was also a sign of his will to reform and was described as a historic moment.

In April negotiations broke out between British Prime Minister Tony Blair , his Irish counterpart Bertie Ahern , David Trimble and Gerry Adams, led by US Senator George J. Mitchell . These culminated in a peace agreement for Northern Ireland , which gave the province semi- autonomous status. In the following election in June 1998, the UUP with Trimble in the lead was the strongest party with 28 seats, followed by the SDLP under John Hume with 24 and Sinn Féin under Adams with 18 seats.

On July 1, 1998, David Trimble was elected First Minister in the regional assembly. On December 10th of the same year he and John Hume received the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of all actors in the Northern Irish peace process, including the governments of Great Britain and Ireland as well as Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness , who played a major role in the IRA's ceasefire.

On June 2, 2006, he was promoted to Life Peer with the title Baron Trimble , of Lisnagarvey in the County of Antrim and has been in the House of Lords ever since .

Web links

Commons : David Trimble  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files