Exit stage left for unionism's Dr Yes

By Martina Purdy
BBC NI political correspondent

Paisley spoke of "friendly relations" with Bertie Ahern

Ian Paisley was once famous for saying no. Now he's famous for saying yes.

Indeed, the DUP leader confounded many observers and life-long supporters when he embraced political compromise with Sinn Féin in October 2006 at St Andrews.

By March 2007, Mr Paisley had ended his long-standing refusal to officially engage with Sinn Fein.

He sat down with Gerry Adams to make a joint statement. Then on 8 May, he entered power-sharing with Sinn Féin and became Martin McGuinness's equal in government.

What is more, he did not have the demeanour of a reluctant peacemaker, a politician making sacrifices out of necessity.

Instead, he seemed to relish his new role. His laughter, alongside a giggling Martin McGuinness, on Devolution Day and beyond prompted a new nickname for him and the republican he once condemned.

They were dubbed "The Chuckle Brothers." It was an image that did not sit well with long-time supporters who'd been drawn to "Dr No".

Within five months of power-sharing, Mr Paisley announced he was stepping down as moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church, a role he had held for five decades.

The DUP leader faced criticism over the "Chuckle Brothers" image

Insiders said he had been pushed out. And less than a year into power-sharing, Mr Paisley also announced he would retire from the first minister's office and the party leadership.

Many observers concluded Mr Paisley had lost his lustre as leader.

It was noted that age and controversy surrounding his son, and his relationship with property developer Seymour Sweeney and the party's defeat in the Dromore by-election had cost him the party.

Mr Paisley denied he had been pressured out of office. And at 82, he could well argue that he was long past retirement. But the view persisted that he was no longer wanted.

As he steps down from the leadership of the party he co-founded in 1970, and prepares to quit as first minister, Mr Paisley has insisted it was not he who changed, but his enemies.

Decades of firebrand attacks

He has maintained that it was only when republicans delivered on his demands that he moved. He cited an end to the IRA, decommissioning and Sinn Fein support for policing.

But his critics, blessed with long memories, were quick to point out he blocked power-sharing with moderate nationalists for years, most markedly in 1974, when he supported a strike involving loyalist paramilitaries to wreck Sunningdale.

Paisley was gravely ill before travelling to talks at Leeds Castle

His shift towards accommodation came late - in fits and starts - after decades of firebrand attacks on both Catholicism and Irish republicanism.

Having condemned the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church as the "Whore of Babylon", Ian Paisley astounded his critics by meeting the Irish Catholic Primate Sean Brady at Stormont in October 2006.

He has also U-turned on his attitude to Dublin, having built his career on attacking the Republic of Ireland and nationalism.

Famously, he once branded then Ulster Unionist leader Jim Molyneaux (now Lord Molyneaux) as a "Judas" over his budding relationship with Dublin.

More infamously, he threw snowballs in 1965 at then Irish prime minister Sean Lemass when he came to Stormont.

Yet Mr Paisley - bold and unblushing - went to Leinster House to meet the Irish prime minister, Bertie Ahern, for the first time in the autumn of 2004 and talked of "friendly relations".

What a contrast this was with 1964, when Mr Paisley demanded an Irish tricolour be removed from Divis Street in west Belfast. When the RUC removed it, it led to rioting.

The Sinn Féin leader, Gerry Adams, then a young man, remembered the incident as shaping his political development.

His role as peacemaker and his biblical references to "love thine enemy" are also in sharp contrast to his old persona as a firebrand preacher, famous for verbal combat with political enemies.

Brian Faulkner's power-sharing deal with moderate nationalism cost him his career

Brian Faulkner, the Ulster Unionist leader whose power-sharing deal with moderate nationalism cost him his career in 1974, called Mr Paisley, "the Demon Doctor".

His doctorate is an honorary one, bestowed by Bob Jones University in South Carolina, but he likes to use the title.

While the DUP leader has condemned violence, both loyalist and republican, he has been criticised for his own past involvement with shadowy groups.

In 1981, he appeared on a hillside in the dead of night with 500 men brandishing firearm licences and later had a brief dalliance with Ulster Resistance.

'Embrace a deal'

With the peace process came attempts by loyalist paramilitaries to organise politically - and challenge the DUP. But neither the Progressive Unionist Party nor the now disbanded Ulster Democratic Party made much impact electorally.

When the loyalist paramilitaries supported the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, Mr Paisley found himself verbally abused by members of the UDA and UVF.

Back then, Ian Paisley seemed to have been defeated. He suffered the humiliation of seeing a majority of unionists, however slim, embrace a deal he had vowed to wreck.

That may have been Ian Paisley's epiphany - a moment of truth, that the landscape demanded a new brand of unionism, tough but compromising

That may have been Ian Paisley's epiphany - a moment of truth, that the landscape demanded a new brand of unionism, tough but compromising.

He has admitted that his brush with death in 2004, when he was gravely ill before travelling to talks at Leeds Castle with the two governments and the other parties, helped him realise that his time to make peace was finite.

His decision to share power came when - arguably - the Troubles were already over. The IRA ceasefire had been in place more than a decade when Ian Paisley said yes.

He might have retired from politics remembered as Dr No had he not been able to take advantage and exploit the difficulties with implementing the Good Friday Agreement.

His uncompromising message became nuanced in 2003 to suit the times and in the assembly poll that year, the DUP finally won the lion's share of unionist support in a devolved assembly.

Change in circumstances

With the prospect of a ministerial post, he gave up his job as an MEP in 2004 to concentrate on the political talks - making way for his successor Jim Allister, who would break with him in 2007 over power-sharing with Sinn Féin.

Following the deal at St Andrews in October 2006, it became evident that Mr Paisley wanted to be first minister before he retired, even if the price of that was Martin McGuinness as partner.

It is possible his hard-line stance all these years was merely a tool to win power. But it's also possible that it's the change in circumstances that led to a changed Paisley.

Jim Allister broke with the DUP in 2007 over power-sharing

How could he justify saying no when it was clear the IRA was willing to go? He no doubt realised another power-sharing deal was coming and decided he would conclude it himself.

And so "never" gave way to "whenever" and "not an inch" gave way to "inch by inch" and then a great leap.

Just a few years ago, Ian Paisley told the BBC journalist, Peter Taylor, that he would not be changing.

"I'll go to the grave with the convictions I have," said the DUP leader.

It's a claim he stands by as he leaves the stage.

In saying yes, he had the benefit of not having a Paisley-type figure to oppose him. He has lost support and an MEP, but his party has largely stayed united.