NOBL.L, N O C . U N S , N O ( . O V I K N M I N I .
"i'i
I l i i .< i I | M 1 1 1 1 it i vi •! s.i i K M is between
\l i )•! 11\ n| i l.i n lily) .11 it I Ins 11 >\ i
it inn-, i i . m m . were i l i c i i played down
11 I 'i r.is, UK Indiii!'. Trimble,
in iln p.ii i v .it its A( i'M MI M.HI Ii
U'i i 11.11 ii i s n! keepnij', 11 ic i i o i i i i n . i l ic HI
m l M I I I \ in i c l a l i o n lo l l i c . i l l . i n i n n
, ii i i i i i l n i | ; In p a r l y delegates. Sonic in
minim'', lie.id, arguing dial in .1 i < m
i In I.ind, where old fashioned f a m i l y
Id In Impossible to gel a self-confessed
11|' l u k e i . Among those calling l < n
>. ( n l n i I'nylor, who predicted ili.n
i n l I mopean scat, possibly to Sinn
i i l u i candidate. Taylor was secretly
r ulc.i nl a dream-ticket duo—Jeffrey
i .r. .in alternative to Jim Nicholson.
MI i he momentum to ditch Nicholson
,r.. In iwcvcr, one force standing in the
I I I ' I >avid Trimble. The party leader
i spile ol the opposition building up
, I'limble felt that Nicholson's extra-
i me's business except his wife and his
d by I ho sight of other party members
11.1 racter. In Trimble's mind, his MEP
• lor i lie Province at Strasbourg and
i ' s larming community. Nicholson's
pe.ni Parliament, was after all, better
,1 Ill's, Ian Paisley and John Hume.
.lined loyal to his leader when others
.car before in the run-up to the Good
ule it clear to his party executive that
wolves. 'David doesn't judge anyone
(happy to be surrounded by all types,
lie owed Jim Nicholson one and he
nible aide remarked.45
n re-elected was not made easier by
•ily Telegraph. It urged unionists to
lob McCartney, who privately pre-
mce of taking the third seat instead
of Nicholson or Sinn Fein. Once again Trimble's old friends at the
Telegraph had stabbed him in the back.
Trimble's instincts told him that Nicholson would hold on to the
seat, because even religious unionists would vote for the belea-
guered MEP rather than allow Sinn Fein to snatch the seat. His
instincts proved to be correct. On 14 June Ian Paisley topped the
poll with 192,762 first-preference votes while John Hume (whom
the SDLP had claimed would come first) came in second with
I 90,731. Nicholson came third with 119,507 first-preferences, just
a head of Sinn Fein's Mitchell McLaughlin. Nicholson was finally
elected on the third count, thanks to transfers from their great rival
Ian Paisley and the second-preferences of Robert McCartney, who
was eliminated after receiving just 20,283 first-preferences. Nich-
olson's narrow win had thwarted a coup that Trimble's opponents
had been planning in the light of a possible defeat on 14 June. The
UUP leader had lived to fight another day. The results were,
however, still alarming given the sharp slide in Ulster Unionist
electoral support dating back from the first ceasefires.
The splits and personal rivalries within the UUP were exposed
very publicly again on the day of the count. John Taylor published
a letter that he had written to Trimble, in which he warned him that
he would resign as a party negotiator if the decommissioning
question was dodged. In response, Ken Maginnis accused Taylor
of actively working against Jim Nicholson during the election
campaign. Maginnis went on to claim that Taylor 'will continue
to position himself to take advantage of the many difficulties that
David Trimble finds himself in, which I find deplorable'.
Trimble's troubles were exacerbated by an upsurge in violence in
late May and early June. On 17 June the IRA informer Martin
McGartland was shot and seriously wounded in a gun attack in
Whitley Bay in north-east England. Like Eamon Collins (who had
been found beaten to death near his home in South Armagh in
January), McGartland had written an insider's account of the IRA.
Following Collins's murder McGartland claimed he was on an IRA
hit list. At first, wildly inaccurate reports emanating from RTE in
Dublin asserted that McGartland had been shot by a local drugs
gang with whom he had fallen out. However, the truth was that the
attempted murder was the work of the IRA's Belfast Brigade, and
McGartland was a target because a number of Belfast republicans
nursed long-standing grudges against him.