Tributes paid to Lord Trimble

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Lord Trimble's former adviser Lord Bew spoke about the moment the SDLP and UUP leaders signed up to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

He told BBC's Newsline: "They [Hume and Trimble] thought they had done the right thing.

"They had reached the compromise, and they thought that the electorate of Northern Ireland would reward them for having delivered this settlement of peace."

However Lord Bew admitted that over the next few years, it did not work out how they had planned.

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When asked how he thought Lord Trimble would be remembered, Lord Bew said he was essential to the Northern Ireland peace process.

"We’re so used to [the Good Friday Agreement], we forget how unexpected it was.

"People were genuinely surprised, partly because many nationalists saw David as a hardliner and they weren’t fully aware of the complexity and the cleverness of his mind," he said.

"This was a break in history, and he contributed more to that than any other single person."

Sinn Féin assembly member Gerry Kelly told BBC Newsline he thought history would judge Lord Trimble kindly.

“I think he’s already been judged well and gently," he said.

"He will be remembered for the Good Friday Agreement, above all.

"When it came down to it there were a number of political leaders who aligned at the right time in history.

"I think what he understood that this was a very hard, very important decision."

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One problem for David Trimble was that after the agreement, political prisoners were released within two years but there was a seven-year wait for the IRA to begin decommissioning its weapons.

"I can see that was a problem for him but there were problems all round," said Mr Kelly.

“Policing wasn’t agreed at the Good Friday Agreement and then that had to go to the Patton report.

"When we tried to implement Patton, there were those in the British system, perhaps more the unionist system, civil servants trying to gut out the 175 recommendations in it."

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Former Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers has described Lord Trimble as “a truly great statesman” who will be “greatly missed”.

Posting on Facebook, she said he “deserves a huge amount of credit for the success of the Northern Ireland peace process”.

“Without the courageous decisions he took, the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement would not have been achieved,” she said.

Ms Villiers added: “He was also a kind man whose advice I very much valued. He will be greatly missed”.

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One of the defining moments of the Good Friday Agreement referendum campaign came in the form of a last-minute gig featuring U2 and Downpatrick band Ash.

Despite knowing that both David Trimble and John Hume would make an appearance, Ash drummer Rick McMurray said the iconic photo of the two leaders and U2 frontman Bono was completely unplanned.

Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster's Evening Extra programme, he said: The atmosphere in that room was just absolutely insane, you kind of knew that was going to be the moment it was going to be the defining image of the whole referendum."

He added that the image still sends shivers up his spine 25 years on.

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Mr McMurray said that he believed the concert was pivotal in securing a Yes vote in the referendum.

"It's easy to look back and think the result was a foregone conclusion but definitely in that room this was a very necessary event that could swing the vote," he said.

He added that he felt it was definitely something that was designed to "turn it all around".

The Ash drummer added that while he didn't think it was his best performance, it was one of the band's most memorable.

"Nothing that we have done has come close to having that much meaning," he said.

Former Ulster Unionist leader Tom Elliott has said Lord Trimble was a loyal unionist who "always put country before himself and indeed before the party as well".

Mr Elliott said Lord Trimble "took risks in life and he took risks in political life and he took decisions that nobody else, I have to say, could have taken or would have taken."

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"Not any other unionist leader or, indeed, anybody else on the sideline would have taken those decisions that David Trimble took.

"He was always committed, totally committed to those decisions and his view and his view was always what’s best for Northern Ireland.

"He never held a grudge and he went through some very difficult times and suffered terrible personal abuse to him and his family and he didn’t seem to hold a grudge against anyone for that."

The Reverend Dr David Clements, convenor of the Methodist Church in Ireland's council on social responsibility, has offered the sympathies of the church to Lord Trimble's family and friends.

"David Trimble, though loyal to his own political philosophy, made a gesture of great bravery and magnaminity in 1998 when he opted to put peace before party and signed up to the Good Friday Agreement, which has undoubtedly led our current generation of young adults being able to grow up in a less turbulent environment than their parents," he said.

"His contribution to political life, both locally and internationally, was considerable and his status as a significant political thinker will, I believe, be upheld by history."

A book of condolence has been opened in the Guildhall in memory of Lord Trimble.

Derry City and Strabane District mayor Sandra Duffy was the first to pay her respects in the book this afternoon.

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The US State Department has said Lord Trimble personified "integrity and compromise" which allowed Northern Ireland to transcend its violent past.

A statement said: "His tenacity during early political negotiations underpinned the strength of his convictions as well as his deep commitment to work across the sectarian divide."

It continued to say that Lord Trimble was "a strong advocate of power-sharing and a key architect" of the Good Friday Agreement.

It added that his political legacy was the "stability and prosperity" that Northern Ireland enjoyed today.

BBC reporter Mark Simpson covered trips Lord Trimble took to the United States in his capacity as first minister and recalls his "relaxed" demeanour.

Lord Trimble helped bring "stability and hope to Northern Ireland," the United State's secretary of state has said.

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The Good Friday Agreement would not have been signed in 1998 without David Trimble, former Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams has said.

Speaking on RTÉ's News at One programme, Mr Adams said while there may have been a resolution at some stage during the peace talks, it was Lord Trimble's willingness to support the agreement that paved the way for peace.

He said: "The reality is that he persuaded his party to sign up for the Good Friday Agreement, he negotiated that agreement, and it’s to his huge credit that he did that, and I, for one, thank him for that."

Mr Adams said that at times Lord Trimble could be hard to deal with, but that he was quite vulnerable and the challenges he faced during this time should not be underestimated.

He also recalled meetings with Lord Trimble at Hillsborough Castle on the odd Sunday where the two would try to figure out how contradictions "could be squared off".

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The Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly said it was important that the Assembly formally expresses its condolences on the loss of Lord Trimble.

Alex Maskey said, as Lord Trimble was the first first minister of this Assembly, it was "only right that this should take place in the Assembly Chamber."

He will gather members in the chamber at 12:00 BST on Tuesday for tributes to be paid.

There will also be a book of condolence.

The recall of the Assembly which was originally scheduled to take place today will now take place next Wednesday.

Lord Trimble was a man of "deep integrity" who "took risks for peace and paid a heavy political price", Northern Ireland Office (NIO) Minister Conor Burns has said.

In a tweet, Mr Burns said he had lost a friend.

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MLAs looks set to be recalled to the Assembly next week to mark the death of former First Minister Lord Trimble

Members will be able to pay tribute to the former Ulster unionist leader at a special sitting on Tuesday.

Lord Trimble’s funeral is due to take place in Lisburn on Monday.

Stormont speaker Alex Maskey has been in contact with party whips today to organise the sitting.

Meanwhile it is expected MLAs will return to the assembly on Wednesday in another bid to elect a speaker.

The recall proposed by the SDLP was due to take place today but was postponed as a mark of respect to Lord Trimble

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Focused, triumphant, with family - a gallery of photographs document some of the ordinary and extraordinary moments of Lord Trimble's life and career.

See more here.

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Lord Trimble, alongside former SDLP leader John Hume, will be remembered as an architect of peace.

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Speaker of the House of Lords, Lord John McFall, said David Trimble was one of the "bravest politicians" he knew.

Writing on Twitter, he said: "[Trimble] overcame immense challenges from friends and foe alike in securing the Good Friday Peace agreement."

He added that Trimble's "courage, stead fast principles and integrity" were recognised when he was awarded the Nobel Peace prize alongside John Hume.

"He was a peacemaker, parliamentarian and friend," he said.

"He will be sadly missed by his family and friends and the political community, not least in the House of Lords where he served for 16 years."

Northern Ireland artist Colin Davidson, who produced a portrait of Lord Trimble, which was unveiled at Queen's University in Belfast in June, has paid tribute to the former first minister.

He said that one day society would come to realise the peer's "seismic contribution to peace in this place".

Mr Davidson told BBC Radio Ulster’s Talkback programme he was invited to Lord and Lady Trimble’s house as part of the portrait project and received an education in music from the peer.

“We ended up not talking hugely about politics, we ended up talking about the music that he loved and the passion that he had for that and the huge collection of LPs that he had, the classical music and the opera,” he said.

“He ended up actually educating me quite a bit about what he knew about that, and I think what was fascinating for me was I wasn’t just painting the political side, I wasn’t just painting the gravity of that, but I was actually painting the human being and I was seeing what his passions were.”

Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie leaves a floral tribute to Lord Trimble beside his portrait at Parliament Buildings, Stormont, today.

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