The ex Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble was pragmatic but still a conservative Briton

David Trimble has been widely and justifiably praised for his remarkable political career, as this column and many others noted yesterday.

But there is also a fair degree of misunderstanding about this world view.

The supposed journey of Lord Trimble, as he later became, from hardliner to moderate is a popular one because it fits a narrative that many people want to believe, particularly of those who appear to discard unpopular conservative views, such as the white leader FW de Klerk in South Africa who then played a central role in the dismantling of apartheid.

Thus the move from hardline to moderate becomes a moral story from good to bad, like that of the wealthy man (bad) who eschews wealth (good). But in the political context this can misunderstand pragmatic reasons for a change in views. The conservative who accepts that he cannot be fully conservative in some contexts is not necessarily abandoning conservatism, but rather compromising on what can be done.

While many of the nationalist and liberal tributes to Trimble are sincere expressions of admiration for the path of a man whose outlook they did not share, others talk of the ex UUP leader as if he jettisoned unionism. David Trimble’s support for Brexit showed that he was in fact late in his life still a supporter of positions that are popular among traditional Tory circles (and he did actually become a Conservative).

As Lord Bew says, in a compelling assessment of the former first minister whom he once advised, Lord Trimble perhaps did not give much thought to the challenges that might arise for unionism as a result of Brexit. But he also became the conscience of those influential UK politicians and officials whose response to those challenges was to grant Irish nationalist demands.

It is telling the way in which Ireland and the EU took ownership of the legacy of the Belfast Agreement to suit their post Brexit when one of the 1998 deal’s architects was pointing out that their Irish Sea border was in fact damaging the key sovereignty-by-consent aspect of the accord.