Editing David Trimble (section)

==First Minister of Northern Ireland==
[[File:David Trimble Washington D.C.jpg|thumb|upright|Trimble in Washington, D.C., 2001]]

Trimble [[1998 Northern Ireland Assembly election|was elected]] on 25 June 1998 as a [[Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly]] for Upper Bann.<ref name="nobelprize1998"/> He was elected [[First Minister of Northern Ireland]] on 1 July 1998.<ref name="nobelprize1998"/>

Arguments over the extent of [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]] decommissioning led to repeated disruptions during Trimble's tenure as First Minister. In particular:
* The office of First Minister was suspended from 11 February 2000 to 30 May 2000. During this time, Trimble attempted to reassure party members who were sceptical of the post-Good Friday Agreement institutions, saying, "Unionists won the war... The Agreement gave unionism the opportunity to take control of Northern Ireland's constitutional future and to take a major stake in the government of our country... Does anyone really think [[Gerry Adams]] wanted this?".<ref name="Trimble_2000">{{cite news |last1=Trimble |first1=David |title=We won the war – now for the peace |work=Belfast News Letter|date=20 May 2000}}</ref>
* Trimble resigned as First Minister on 1 July 2001 due to the continuing impasse arising from the IRA's refusal of his demands that it decommission its arms, as per the commitments all parties had signed up to in section 7 pt. 3 (page 25)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nio.gov.uk/agreement.pdf |title=The Agreement |access-date=3 November 2011|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111003065655/http://www.nio.gov.uk/agreement.pdf |archive-date=3 October 2011|publisher=Northern Ireland Office }}</ref> of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/the-long-and-arduous-road-to-paramilitary-decommissioning-14345877.html |title=The long and arduous road to paramilitary decommissioning |work=Belfast Telegraph |date=19 June 2009 |access-date=29 June 2010 |archive-date=24 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090624025139/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/the-long-and-arduous-road-to-paramilitary-decommissioning-14345877.html |url-status=live }}</ref> but he was re-elected on 5 November 2001<ref name="Telegraph obit"/>
* The Assembly was suspended from 14 October 2002 until 2007 due to accusations of an IRA spy ring being operated there (the so-called [[Stormontgate]] Affair), which Trimble described as ten times worse than [[Watergate]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Stormontgate: how events unfolded|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/stormontgate-how-events-unfolded-1.1287301|date=17 December 2005|access-date=25 July 2022|newspaper=The Irish Times|location=Dublin|archive-date=26 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220726003148/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/stormontgate-how-events-unfolded-1.1287301|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1998, [[Tony Blair]] announced a new judicial inquiry, the [[Bloody Sunday Inquiry]], into the killing of 13 unarmed civil rights marchers in Derry in 1972. A previous investigation, the [[Widgery Tribunal]], into the same event had been discredited. During the debate in the House of Commons, Trimble was one of few dissenting voices. He said: "I am sorry to have to say to the Prime Minister that I think that the hope expressed by the Honourable Member for Foyle {{interp|[[John Hume]]}} that this will be part of the healing process is likely to be misplaced. Opening old wounds like this is likely to do more harm than good. The basic facts of the situation are known and not open to dispute."<ref name="HansardBloodySunday">{{Cite web |author=Department of the Official Report (Hansard), House of Commons, Westminster |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/cgi-bin/newhtml_hl?DB=semukparl&STEMMER=en&WORDS=trimble%20david%20bloodi%20sundai&ALL=bloody%20sunday&ANY=&PHRASE=&CATEGORIES=&SIMPLE=&SPEAKER=Trimble%20David&COLOUR=red&STYLE=s&ANCHOR=80129-07_spnew1&URL=/pa/cm199798/cmhansrd/vo980129/debtext/80129-07.htm#80129-07_spnew1 |title=Hansard Record of Commons Debate launching the Saville Inquiry |work=Hansard |publisher=UK Parliament |date=29 January 1998 |access-date=16 June 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131107220346/http://www.publications.parliament.uk/cgi-bin/newhtml_hl?DB=semukparl&STEMMER=en&WORDS=trimble%20david%20bloodi%20sundai&ALL=bloody%20sunday&ANY=&PHRASE=&CATEGORIES=&SIMPLE=&SPEAKER=Trimble%20David&COLOUR=red&STYLE=s&ANCHOR=80129-07_spnew1&URL=%2Fpa%2Fcm199798%2Fcmhansrd%2Fvo980129%2Fdebtext%2F80129-07.htm#80129-07_spnew1 |archive-date=7 November 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Reporting in 2010, the [[Saville Inquiry]] confirmed that all of the 13 killings and 13 woundings were unjustified.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/bloody-sunday-unjustified-and-unjustifiable-2001218.html|title=Bloody Sunday 'unjustified and unjustifiable'|date=15 June 2010|work=The Independent|agency=Press Association|access-date=7 December 2018|archive-date=9 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181209165346/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/bloody-sunday-unjustified-and-unjustifiable-2001218.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

During a meeting with Blair in 2001, Trimble questioned the impartiality of judge [[Brian Kerr, Baron Kerr of Tonaghmore|Sir Brian Kerr]], later chief justice of Northern Ireland and a [[Law Lord]] appointed to the [[Supreme Court of the United Kingdom|Supreme Court]]. This evidence and comments made about other public figures contradicts what Trimble's biographer considered a "lack of personal bigotry against Catholics".<ref>Sam McBride, 'Revealed | Trimble told PM of concern that judge hearing key case was "north Lurgan Catholic"']. ''Belfast Telegraph'', 25 March 2025. Retrieved 25 March 2025</ref>