A sad juxtaposition occurred this week. And it drove home a thought that has been fermenting and festering for years.
We deserve a better class of political leader.
It’s not a very original thought, I’ll give you that. It’s probably a thought that’s shared by many.
And it’s been brought to the fore by the leadership of Boris Johnson, for me. But it probably carries all the way back to Trump or Brexit.
It came back to me with stark clarity this week though when I saw David Trimble sharing the headlines with Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss.
David Trimble, who died on Monday, was a Nobel Peace Prize winner and one of the main architects of the Good Friday Agreement.
Allow me to state the obvious and point out that Sunak, a law-breaking millionaire, and Truss, a hard-line Brexiteer who voted Remain, are not in the same class of leadership as Trimble.
They’re not even in the same school.
Neither of the Conservative Party leadership candidates inspire a belief in their fortitude to do what is right for us all (not when they could be doing what is popular with their base).
But David Trimble, who would finish his career as a member of Truss and Sunak’s Conservative party, is of a man who did exactly that.
Politics is not a popularity contest
David Trimble was a hard-line Unionist who became leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) in 1995.
Three years later he helped broker the Good Friday Agreement, holding talks with Republican figures such as Gerry Adams.
It was a move once deemed unthinkable by many. And it was not an easy path to take.
It was unpopular among large sections of his voter base.
But he pursued it because it was the right thing to do.
It was a path that took great courage and sacrifice, the cornerstones of great leadership.
And it took honest negotiations and a great deal of trust.
Trust that the person on the other side of the table would do tomorrow what they signed up to today – and also that they would continue to do so for the next 10, 20, a hundred years.
Truss and Sunak should look to David Trimble for inspiration
Northern Ireland has sadly lost three great leaders in the last few years, all of whom helped to shape the Good Friday Agreement.
David Trimble, John Hume and Martin McGuinness were courageous men who rose above the weight of history and division to help bring peace to the North.
Quite incredible that Sunak and Truss both paid tribute to David Trimble, but neither spent a second explaining how they’d get the NI executive functioning again #BBCOurNextPM
— Alasdair Clark (@alasdair_clark) July 25, 2022
Despite everything the past had taught them, they put their trust into building a new, better, future.
The death of David Trimble was announced on Monday evening shortly before Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss took to the stage for their leaders’ debate.
Each paid a brief condolence to the memory of the man. But perhaps a far better tribute would be to try to emulate his legacy.
To forgo what appears easy and popular with their voter base. And to instead put forward plans and policies that might offer all of us a brighter future and help to rebuild trust in the UK and its leadership.
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