Diffidence was Trimble’s downfall

| Readers 2

There’s quite a few reviews of David Trimble out at the moment, some of them affectionate, more perhaps in the well worn line of the trouble with Trimble is… This one quotes Seamus Mallon who thinks a combination of the man’s natural diffidence over showing emotion and his negotiation skills (“the man never played a decent hand of poker in his life”) were responsible for his downfall.Though it strikes me that few seem to factor in the fact that Trimble of all the Pro Agreement leaders had the hardest station in that he began with a bare majority of Unionists in favour of the Agreement.

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