Trimble, Hume, Mallon, McGuinness and Paisley – the big beasts of Northern Ireland politics are now all gone

David Trimble was a former leader of the UUP and First Minister of Northern Ireland (Paul Faith/PA)

Suzanne Breen

David Trimble, John Hume, Seamus Mallon, Martin McGuinness and Ian Paisley — the men who built the peace, or later drove it, are all gone.

The sole survivor of that era is Gerry Adams, the man who for a decade plotted, manipulated, and out-manoeuvred internal opponents to bring the IRA to end a war it had pledged to continue until there was a British withdrawal.