Is there a more enigmatic figure in British politics than David Trimble? At times, the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is prepared to take great personal and political risks to drive the peace process forward. After winning the Nobel peace prize in 1998 (shared with the nationalist SDLP'S John Hume), he declared that he saw himself not as Northern Ireland's F.W. de Klerk, but its Nelson Mandela. Yet at other times, the idea that Mr Trimble could compare himself to the generous, forgiving South African comes close to blasphemy. All too easily, he seems to retreat into the narrower, more fearful and suspicious tribal unionism from which he came.
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