Preferring, as always, to be master of his own house, Paisley shunned the dominant Unionist party — in which he had made many enemies — and in formed his own political machine.
Membership and leadership of the Democratic Unionist party closely paralleled those of the burgeoning Free Presbyterian church, which added around 10 congregations to its strength every year throughout the s. Paisley's politics were by no means consistent or predictable. He called for stronger law and order measures, but fiercely opposed the introduction of internment without trial in August Virulently anti-Catholic, he nonetheless built a reputation as a tireless and impartial constituency MP, always finding time to sort out mundane problems for Catholic opponents as well as Protestant supporters.
Having built his political appeal on distrust of Westminster and the virtues of the loyalist ascendancy epitomised by Stormont, in March he opted for full political integration with Great Britain. Indeed, the onset of direct rule by Westminster in that month also marked, ostensibly, an even more startling change of heart, with hints of interest in, and even approval for, eventual Irish unity.
It was a brief interlude. At the end of Paisley refused to go to the multi-party constitutional talks in Darlington. In March he led his party into a united front with the Vanguard Movement, at that time a neo-fascist organisation that Paisley had frequently condemned, and the nakedly paramilitary Ulster Defence Association. Three months later he led noisy disruptions of the new Northern Ireland assembly, when 27 assorted loyalists persistently howled and brought proceedings of the seat chamber to a standstill.
When the historic power-sharing executive was painfully negotiated into being in November , Paisley instantly promised to wreck it. Hatred of the Sunningdale agreement was the cement that helped build a new loyalist coalition. In the general election of February it took 11 of the 12 Northern Ireland seats, shattering the power-sharing dream. Faulkner's executive limped on for a couple of months, but it was a lost cause. When the final loyalist assault came in May , in the form of an all-out strike, it brought Northern Ireland closer than ever to civil war.
After the collapse of the constitutional convention of , Paisley assiduously worked on his image as the true defender of the Ulster — Protestant — people, refusing to let his party play second fiddle to the still powerful Unionists, or get entangled with any constitutional compromise.
He launched his first attempt to take undisputed control of loyalist Ulster in May with another strike. It was his first unequivocal failure. However, in June he astonished the Westminster and Belfast establishments by routing the opposition in the first European Parliament election. Throughout his political career, Paisley fought the establishment, from both inside and out. He was a model parliamentarian, in the sense that he had an indefatigable appetite for constituency work and attending debates, many of them dreary and of only parochial interest.
His speeches in the House of Commons were often tailored to the solemnity and self-regard of that place: carefully contained indignation within a soberly constructed argument. In Belfast, in the packed church or meeting hall, or on the streets, the style was more likely to be mob oratory.
His anti-Catholicism was unbridled — he loved to abuse the Pope as "old redsocks" and inflame his listeners with rumours of seditious plots being hatched in Romish chapels.
Throughout the s, Paisley kept up his barrage of accusations against Dublin, London and the Northern Ireland Office. His furious rants about the betrayal represented by the Anglo-Irish agreement alienated British public opinion and often appeared in danger of assuming the status of self-fulfilling prophecies. He ended up leading a power-sharing executive at Stormont - although he had supported the strike to bring one down 30 years earlier.
In her statement, Baroness Paisley said: "Although ours is the grand hope of reunion, naturally as a family, we are heartbroken," she said. Baroness Paisley said that his funeral would be private. Prime Minister David Cameron said Mr Paisley was "one of the most forceful and instantly recognisable characters in British politics for nearly half a century".
He said he was a controversial politician but his contribution in his later years to stability in Northern Ireland was "huge". He will be greatly missed. First Minister and DUP leader Peter Robinson said that during the height of the Troubles, the "sure and certain ring" of Ian Paisley's voice had a "special resonance" with the people of Northern Ireland. He said those who knew Ian Paisley knew his priority was his faith - above all else in life.
However, former Alliance Party leader John Cushnahan said that while he sympathised with the family, he was astonished at the "rewriting" of Ian Paisley's political contribution. John Cushnahan, a one-time leader of the centrist Alliance party, accused commentators on Friday of rewriting Paisley's history. Cushnahan said the "courageous and imaginative" power-sharing experiment of , set up under the Sunningdale agreement, had been destroyed by a combination of IRA violence and the Paisley-led "fascist" Ulster Workers' Council strike.
The belated conversion of both should not result in an attempt to naively rewrite history," he said. Tony Blair, who was involved in the Good Friday agreement, said the Paisley he dealt with "began as the militant … He ended as the peacemaker. The former prime minister said: "Over time I got to know him well.
He could be an uncompromising, even intransigent opponent. But he was also someone who loved Northern Ireland and its people. Blair's co-partner in pushing the Irish peace process forward, the former taoiseach Bertie Ahern said: "In my younger days I found him a very difficult character but we ended up very good friends. He was a valuable character in the peace process. He told RTE radio: "I grew to admire him. Facebook Twitter Email. Daily Digest Newsletter Get ahead of the day with the morning headlines at 7.
Read More The sayings of Ian Paisley. Read More Tributes paid to the late Ian Paisley. Irish News Colossus of Ulster politics Ian Paisley was probably the most fiery, uncompromising and bellicose Ulster politician throughout the Troubles. Ronaldo pushes Coke bottles aside to drink water at press conference.
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