Trimble’s clever trick

Fascinating weekend. Every columnist seems to read last week’s debacle differently. A result of a culture of silence on the matter from all players conerned, rather than first hand knowledge. One of the rarer analyses is one Harry Browne’s Counterpunch, which puts David Trimble as architect of a cunning trap laid by Trimble for the IRA.

However the argument seem to be at its weakest here:

Nationalist voters are likely to endorse Sinn Fein as their favoured representative, but it remains to be seen if Trimble’s initial apparent deal, then his conspicuous ‘standing up’ to the IRA, will gain him votes among unionists. They might still be inclined to support either his own party’s dissidents, or Ian Paisley’s more hardline Democratic Unionist Party, who will again accuse Trimble of having supped with the devil.

The first part is almost certainly true. But the second clause is weak and conditional. It remains to be seen what Trimble can possibly get out of yet another failed (from his point of view) deal with Sinn Fein. Unless he has another death defying trick to pull out of the bag before his party’s next crucial meeting on Wednesday, the failure of last week’s deal could mean the effective end of pro-Agreement Unionism.

Mick Fealty

Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty