Interview: ‘Have you ever asked the British to leave?’ - Gerry Adams used to ask a new taoiseachThe former Ulster Unionist Party leader, who became the first person to serve in the role of first minister in Stormont’s new powersharing government, died last July.
“There were other people who David didn’t want our neighbours to see that he was meeting, the more sensitive. Sinn Féin basically. There was another house put at his disposal where he met them,” she says. “And the one that I remember that caused me a crisis of faith, because you do what your dad says, was when I answered and an American voice said, ‘Hello, I’m looking to speak to David Trimble, it’s the White House here.’
The UUP leader famously only ever spoke two words to him during the negotiations, “Grow up” in the gents toilets when Adams asked “How are you doing David?” “I grew up with everyone knowing who my dad was. He was the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, then there was the agreement and then he was the first minister,” says Trimble.
“For other parties, getting the deal over the line was it. They were done and exited stage left; whereas Dad almost had a harder job post-agreement. “But the thing that I feel worse about was when I got a warning from police that protesters were planning to picket outside our house on a Saturday morning.
With the first anniversary of her husband’s death approaching following a series of major events marking the agreement’s milestone anniversary, Daphne says she has found it too difficult to watch the media coverage. “I’ve watched a bit but it’s still pretty raw with David not being here,” she says. The family are giving the papers to Queen’s University Belfast – a 12-box consignment has already been sent and six empty boxes are in the hall waiting to be filled – where he lectured in law in the 1970s before entering politics.
For Nicholas Trimble, the landmark deal would never have brokered without his father: “If he was here today, he would dance around the issue, but yes, I think in his heart, he believed it was worth it too. He would definitely make that sacrifice again.