David Trimble’s journey from hardliner to First Minister

David Trimble transformed from a man who had manned the barricades at the menacing Orange marches at Drumcree into a statesman who played a huge part in achieving the historic Good Friday agreement of 1998

David Trimble. Picture: PA

David Trimble was the Ulster Unionist hardliner, unafraid of flexing his political muscles, who became a moderate, although tough, leader of the party and then Northern Ireland’s first First Minister.

But his leadership of both the party and region ended at the general election of 2005, as the Ulster Unionists lost their dominant position to play second fiddle to Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionist Party.