FROM THE ARCHIVES:More than a quarter of a century before Ian Paisley became the First Minister of the North, Conor O'Clery assessed a growing view in Belfast at the time that he might be the next prime minister of Northern Ireland. What follows is an extract from his report on the feelings abroad in unionism.
– JOE JOYCE
DESPITE THE widespread fascination with and support for Paisley, unionists are riddled with doubts and misgivings and fears about the true nature of the man himself. The wife of one prominent unionist who has worked closely with the DUP leader has refused to have him in her house, sharing the same feeling of revulsion for him as many Catholics.
In two separate conversations with unionists, an analogy was drawn between Paisley and Hitler. “I was in Germany in the 1930s,” said one businessman. “I saw the same tactics, the same playing on the fears and prejudices of a frightened people, wrecking everything to get power. And make no mistake, Paisley wants power.”
A few are not quite so certain that Paisley seeks power. He has confided to individual unionist coalition leaders that if the political position of Northern Ireland inside the UK was secured, he would go back to being a full-time church moderator. “The problem with Paisley,” said Clifford Smith, “is that he has not made up his mind whether his role is to represent the authentic voice of unionism, or of Irish Protestantism.”
Paisley’s personal insecurity is also a by-word in the world of unionism. It is as if the DUP leader, now the most secure figure in Irish politics, cannot bear to have a contender for his particular kind of eminence. His number two in the Assembly, the Rev William Beattie, is the most recent to fade. He has just lost the DUP chairmanship . . .
Paisley is also extremely sensitive about the accusation that he holds his party together mainly on the strength of personality. Once when sitting between Harry West (former leader of Official Unionist Party) and William Craig (the third Unionist coalition leader) on a flight to London during the time of the Assembly, West said to him during an argument: “The trouble with you, Ian, is that you are only a one-man band.”
The DUP leader went white and said: “That is the most hurtful thing that you could say to me. When I go my work will go on.” He then lapsed into petulant silence, refusing to speak during the rest of the plane journey until he had received a written apology from Harry West.
He is also insecure about his political base, according to an ex-DUP man who said: “He could talk to John Hume, then go off to Ballymena Orange Hall and get the vibrations and change tack. He’s not a leader in that sense.”
“You can’t sandpaper Paisley, you can’t mould him into something else,” one Official Unionist said. “One should never be deluded by his affability away from the television screen or his Martyrs’ Memorial Church . . .”
Secretary of State, Humphrey Atkins, found a most reasonable politician in the DUP leader during the recent constitutional talks. This helped arguments in London that Paisley should be thought of seriously as a future prime minister at Stormont. Then the DUP leader had himself arrested outside Armagh Cathedral on the visit of Mr Haughey . The “street demagogue” reappeared.
A day or two later, the Official Unionist leader, Jim Molyneaux, met Atkins in the lobby of the House of Commons. “What do you think of Ian Paisley today? asked Molyneaux. “That bloody man, that bloody man!” Atkins cried, raising his hands in despair.