The Sunday Times October 15, 2006 Comment: Liam Clarke: Paisley brazenly rewrites his own history to take credit for this deal Last Friday in St Andrews, as he rose to welcome the agreement outlined by the British and Irish governments, Ian Paisley made a moving and statesmanlike speech. He remembered victims of violence and the poor. He spoke of reconciliation and peace. The high point of his oratory was a striking image: he spoke of a political fork in the road and called for an election to allow people to choose the way forward. “Today we stand at a crossroads,” he said. “We stand at a place where there is a road to democracy and there is a road to anarchy. I trust that we will see in the coming days the vast majority of the people taking to the road of democracy.” Had he been able to hear Paisley’s words, Captain Terence O’Neill, the prime minister of Northern Ireland at the outset of the Troubles, would have done a proverbial spin in his grave. ........ So heated was the campaign against O’Neill’s 1969 reform package, which is far less than the DUP leader is now envisaging, that Paisley was jailed for breaking the law and defying the police as he blocked a civil rights parade. He was released after six weeks under a general amnesty for political prisoners, just the sort of amnesty he has spent the rest of his life opposing. “Captain O’Neill has sown the wind, now he is reaping the whirlwind,” declared Eileen Paisley as she campaigned for her husband’s release. ......... When it emerged John Major had been in secret contact with republicans aimed at securing an IRA ceasefire, Paisley denounced him, claiming “you have sold out Ulster to buy off the fiendish republican scum”. Now, 12 years into the ceasefire Major and Albert Reynolds helped to achieve, Paisley is reaping the rewards of their efforts. He says he is willing to take his place as first minister in Stormont, sharing power in a mandatory coalition with Sinn Fein. Whether Paisley has the chutzpah to claim as his legacy something he has opposed all his life remains to be seen. This week it looks as if he will. After all, he has one advantage that O’Neill, Trimble and his unionist leader predecessors did not. Paisley’s trump card is that there is no Ian Paisley waiting in the wings to attack his motives, to exploit his weaknesses and to call him a traitor. That is the best omen that could be hoped for. timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-1507-2404640-3048,00.html
Posted on: Sun, 15 Sep 2013 12:54:26 +0000