Lord Maginnis: I’m sure David Trimble would have been a target for the IRA

Lord Maginnis has said he is in no doubt that the IRA would have targeted and considered murdering Lord Trimble during their armed campaign.

The former Fermanagh/South Tyrone MP, who said he survived 11 separate IRA plots to kill him, was emphatic that the Provisionals would have discussed the possibility of targeting his friend and fellow Ulster Unionist MP.

He also said Lord Trimble’s pragmatic approach to reaching an historic compromise with nationalism was heavily influenced by the thinking of his murdered colleague Edgar Graham. The Queen’s University law lecturer was shot dead on campus by the IRA in December 1983.

In an interview with the News Letter ahead of the former first minister’s funeral today, Lord Maginnis said: “I had 11 attempts to murder me and some got more publicity than others. There was one where the IRA cut through the fence of the council offices and turned up on the council doorstep looking for me but I wasn’t there as I had been warned there was a likelihood of something happening and I got off site.

“So, I know what I am talking about when it comes to death threats and plots to kill by the IRA.

“David would have been a target too because of his position as an MP and later party leader. He was very well covered by security teams but I am certain that he would have been in the IRA’s cross-hairs.”

Lord Maginnis said the IRA would have regarded Lord Trimble as the same kind of long term, political threat as they had of Edgar Graham.

“I remember doing an about-turn on the M1 motorway as I was going home to Dungannon. I was coming out of Belfast when I heard that Edgar had been shot and at that time there were no iron railings dividing the opposite lanes. So, when I saw the first gap in the opposite lane I pulled onto the other side of the M1 and drove straight back into Belfast again.”

He said himself and Lord Trimble had a “strong affinity” with Edgar Graham.

Lord Maginnis continued: “Edgar was immense in terms of the role he played in influencing the Ulster Unionist Party. It permeated the party.”

He described Mr Graham’s influence as “cool objectivity”.

“Edgar said to the party – ‘look let’s be sensible, we cannot ignore a half million or so other people who are non-unionist. We’ve got to make an accommodation with them.’ This came from Edgar being a pragmatic and sensible individual.

“I have no doubt whatsoever that Edgar was a telling influence on David. He was significant in impacting on David’s thinking. Looking back I would say that Edgar’s murder was a real motivation for David in a sense that he would carry on his murdered friend’s work.”

Reflecting on one of the two issues that dogged Lord Trimble’s leadership of the UUP and then his time as first minister, Lord Maginnis said it was telling that from the outset it had been Tony Blair using the word “decommissioning” rather than “disarmament”.

“A very important part of the Belfast Agreement was Blair’s use of the word ‘decommissioning’ whereas I with my UDR experience recognised and accepted that we go for ‘disarmament’. This was because ‘decommissioning’ was more like saying ‘you’ve got to put your guns in the cupboard rather than surrender your weapons’. I think ‘decommissioning’ signalled that the weapons were only tucked away out of sight. It was a word chosen deliberately to make it easier to ask the paramilitaries to put their guns away and pretend that the war was over.”

Despite the “slippery language” Tony Blair deployed, Lord Maginnis, who was one of Lord Trimble’s closest confidantes during the talks leading to the agreement, stressed that the UUP leader was realistic about who he was dealing with.

“David’s investment in Blair, the wooing of Blair was him very much dealing with reality. Blair was the prime minister with a massive majority and he was the man unionism had to do business with.

“Personally, I had more time for the one-time secretary of state Peter Mandelson because, and this might sound strange, I found him more trustworthy.”

Lord Trimble became UUP leader against the odds in 1995 defeating the two expected frontrunners Strangford MP John D Taylor (later Lord Kilcooney) and Ken Maginnis. Lord Maginnis said that while his “ego was bruised” over the defeat he was quickly won over by Lord Trimble’s willingness to bring his internal opponents on board and into the talks team at Stormont.

“When he selected his team for the talks, and especially with John Taylor given his vast experience, I was impressed by David. He selected myself I think because of my considerable experience in terms of terrorism. We found ourselves in a strong team although there were one or two people that I didn’t approve of but I was not leader. David tried to make our team as broad based and reflective of the party as possible.”

Some of those who later were part of the UUP talks team in the latter stages towards Good Friday 1998 walked out before the agreement such as Sir Jeffrey Donaldson and Arlene Foster. Given that both later supported a second power-sharing settlement (the 2006 St Andrew Agreement) did Lord Maginnis’ old friend have the last laugh on the 1998 defectors?

“David wasn’t somebody that you ever heard saying ‘well, I knew that before they did’ or ‘I told you so’ or ‘they wouldn’t be there today if it wasn’t for me’. David wasn’t even a man who grabbed any credit and wore it like a badge. He was a humble fellah. He never went around saying those kinds of things and that was very much the man I knew. He had insight, he had patience, he had courage.”