We have far more in common, than we have to divide us, is what John Hume used to say. He was right.

Prior to meeting John Hume in my role as the Communications Director for the UUP talks team in 1996, my most vivid memories of him were of his relentless single transferable speech – which he delivered at every opportunity in the early 1990’s.

Those of my vintage and older will remember it because every time he was interviewed he started into it. It went along the lines of, ‘We need to get an agreement……we need an agreement between all sides……we need to build a new agreed Ireland…..we have far more in common than we have to divide us……we need to get an agreement between our people…..we need to get an agreement…..’

It was monotonous. It was repetitive. It was actually infuriating at times to me as a unionist. He never seemed to talk about specifics or the issue of the day. All he talked about was that we needed to get an agreement. I used to think, would you ever give over?! What about the IRA? What about this? What about that?

He never seemed to focus on the detail. He wanted everyone to focus on the goal.

In early 1996 there was residual animosity towards him from Unionism, going back to the previous failed talks initiative in the early 90’s. The UUP blamed Hume’s fixation of wanting to include Sinn Fein in a deal, for that process collapsing. There was genuine fear and scepticism in 1996, that the same would happen again.

So, I was surprised in a good way, when we had our very first bilateral meeting with John and the SDLP talks team in June 1996, in David Trimble’s ground floor office in Castle Buildings.

Hume came into the room and sat himself down on a low seat and very casually kicked off the discussion.

It was really quite simple in his eyes. He basically said, ‘Look, we’re all here to try to get an Agreement. You (the UUP) want an Assembly. That’s fine. We want a North South dimension to an Agreement – whether that’s a North-South Council or whatever. That’s what we want to give reflection to our identity and our politics. If we can get an agreement that allows us to share power in Stormont and we can get the North-South piece right, we’ll have a deal.’

Trimble replied positively and affirmed if that was the case, then we were on the same page. If the North South piece was for mutual benefit and not a threat to unionism, we (the UUP) were up for it.

When the meeting finished, I thought to myself, my goodness, we’ll have this sorted in no time at all!

As it turned out, it was a bit more difficult than that. It took a lot longer to work through the detail than any of us ever imagined and the arrival of Sinn Fein in August 1997 into the talks process, made everything hugely emotive and incredibly difficult.

The DUP and others walked out in protest. The centre ground of the UUP and SDLP (who were the biggest parties respectively) was at risk of being completely pulled apart. Unless Trimble and Hume could hold it together, the talks process and any chance of peace, would collapse.

Fast forward to today in 2020, all those years later and the institutional structure and architecture of the Good Friday Agreement remains intact. It’s not perfect and it needs to evolve and improve – but we have made enormous progress as a society because of it.

I will always remember David Trimble and John Hume at the referendum concert in May 1998. I had the good fortune to be involved in it, my most important role being to convince and ensure David Trimble actually took part in it! Tim Attwood and Conal McDevitt (and many others) delivered the music and John Hume. Trimble and Hume were so nervous before it. It could have gone wrong on so many levels but it didn’t. It worked. We had our image – the defining image of the campaign. It gave us the glimpse of the future we all wanted.

We had another very special occasion in Oslo in December 1998 when John and David were awarded the Nobel peace prize. I’m not sure two men from both traditions on this island will ever experience stress levels in their political careers like Trimble and Hume. They deserved that global recognition. They earned it.

As the news of John’s passing broke this morning I was picking up my nephew from England at Aldergrove. He was born on the 15 February 1999 which, as it happens, was a very significant day in the then fledgling Northern Ireland Assembly. He innocently asked me about John Hume. I wasn’t sure what to say. After a moment I said, ‘It probably sounds strange coming from me. It almost feels like a death in the family.’‬

We have far more in common, than we have to divide us, is what John Hume used to say. He was right.

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David Kerr was the Director of Communications for the Ulster Unionist Party during the talks which led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.