Trimble sidesteps responsibility as he tries to outflank dissident DUP

HAD Ariel Sharon been born in Northern Ireland, he would probably be First Minister by now.

The Israeli prime minister has the essential characteristics common to intransigent unionism: he’s dogmatically self-righteous and believes he has the right to impose his political will with impunity.

In other words, himself and David Trimble have a lot in common.

In an interview on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland during the week, Reg Empey, a unionist minister in the Executive, summed up succinctly what the problem is.

Without David Trimble, there is no Executive, a card he plays any time it suits him, and more usually when his leadership is under threat, which seems to happen quite a bit. He has staged a walk-out twice already and he won’t hesitate to do so again.

Wednesday’s House of Commons statements from British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Northern Secretary Dr John Reid were quite forceful in their warnings to paramilitaries, particularly to the IRA.

However, they stopped considerably short of declaring the IRA in breach of their ceasefire, thus causing Sinn Féin to be unceremoniously ejected from the Executive and other power-sharing institutions. That is precisely what David Trimble wanted, and has wanted for some time: the removal of Sinn Féin for his own political advantage.

The UUP leader has a sore neck from looking over his shoulder at the anti-Agreement DUP, because Ian Paisley’s outfit could pose a very serious threat to Trimble’s power in the assembly elections to be held in May of next year.

Mr Trimble’s problem is that he heads up a government that has Sinn Féin in a power-sharing role through its two ministers, a fact of life which dyed-in-the-wool unionists just cannot accept. There are plenty of these types in his own Ulster Unionist Party, never mind the DUP.

To secure his own position as leader of the UUP and to outflank the DUP in the assembly elections, he has to get rid of Sinn Féin from the Executive.

In a bid to achieve that, he will try to dictate policy to Tony Blair and, more importantly, disenfranchise Sinn Féin voters.

Like a tired old Lambeg drum, he has been banging on about Colombia, the break-in at Castlereagh barracks and violence in Belfast, largely blaming the IRA for each issue.

The goings-on in Colombia are a little bit removed from his jurisdiction.

And if memory serves me right, the former Chief Constable, Ronnie Flannagan, was of the opinion that Castlereagh was an inside job, that is, perpetrated by British or Northern Irish security figures, and not carried out by the IRA.

While republicans are indeed responsible for some of the recent attacks in Belfast, Mr Trimble should not forget most of the latest violence there is being perpetrated by his own beloved loyalists. Early last Monday they murdered 19-year-old Gerard Lawlor because he was Catholic.

Neither Mr Blair nor Dr Reid obliged Mr Trimble this week. Instead they more or less told him that the problem of paramilitaries was one which should be taken care of in Northern Ireland. Bringing down the Executive and the ancillary institutions is not on their agenda.

The Northern Secretary announced new security measures, including 250 more police and soldiers for north Belfast. The attorney-general will also examine the possibility of new legislation in a bid to halt terrorism on all sides.

Mr Trimble will, therefore, soon resort to his old tactic of threatening to resign, bringing about a collapse of the power sharing institutions and proving to the dissidents in his own camp, and others, that deep down he is as rejectionist as they.

Yesterday, the day after the Commons statement, Mr Trimble wrote a polemic for The Daily Telegraph, an excellent newspaper once you realise where it’s coming from in relation to Ireland.

This venerable media organ would have us believe that the hero of the piece, or peace, is the bould David. That only he forced the IRA to embark on decommissioning. That only he has influence with the British Government, although the deafening silence he received in return for demanding a parliamentary statement on the ceasefire tends to expose this last lie.

Unsurprisingly, Mr Trimble also oozes that condescending tone so characteristic of unionists.

“What has encouraged me over the past difficult four years has been the willingness of so many in the unionist community, despite the pain they have suffered, to support the idea of an historic compromise that includes nationalists and republicans.

“Our government is unprecedented in including representatives of those, who, until a few years ago, were trying to shoot and bomb the majority community into a united Ireland,” he says.

Viewing history at an angle that suits your argument is an easy way to delude yourself. Mr Trimble is good at self-delusion, especially that bit about the unionists “allowing” republicans and nationalists into a power-sharing government.

While there’s no point in dwelling in the past, what about the republican civil rights campaigns against gerrymandering and biased housing and education regimes?

In comparing Mr Trimble with Ariel Sharon, I am not for one moment suggesting Trimble would condone the latest atrocity in which the Israeli Prime Minister took so much initial pride.

The murder (that’s what it was) by the Israeli air force of children and civilians is arguably more shameful and brutal than any of the recent suicide bomb attacks carried out by the Palestinians.

The Israelis dropped a one-tonne bomb on a crowded neighbourhood with reckless disregard as to who, besides their target, would be killed as they slept. The strike killed 16 people, including ten children. It was blatant slaughter, sanctioned by the state of Israel. Ariel Sharon immediately hailed it as one of their greatest successes.

Dropping such a huge bomb on a teeming residential area could only ever have had such an outcome. Eleven of the victims lived in houses adjacent to the target.

What Mr Trimble and Mr Sharon have in common is a pig-headed belief that all of the problems of their countries are due to the actions of just one side, which of course is ludicrous.

Both want to ditch political representatives who were chosen by the people. In the case of Sharon, he wants Yasser Arafat out. Mr Trimble wants Sinn Féin ejected.

Both believe they are the sole arbiters of what’s good for other people, and are bombastic in pursuing a goal that will suit only their own political ends.

What’s been striking about David Trimble is that he more and more frequently appears to be solely the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party. He is also the First Minister, and as such, he should represent all of the people of Northern Ireland.

Too often, this more important role takes second place to his leadership of the party, and too often the good of the UUP takes precedence over the general good of Northern Ireland.