Himself Alone: David Trimble and the Ordeal Of Unionism. Dean Godson

and therefore sought to scupper it).⁴³ Wright later said that ‘Mr Trimble spoke to me on the basis of anti-violence. He asked me to use any influence I had to ensure there was no violence during the protest. It was not a pre-arranged meeting. He believed I had influence on the wilder elements at Drumcree and on the streets of Portadown.’⁴⁴

      Wright might have done so, but his main aim was not conciliation. Rather, his objective was victory for his people at Drumcree. Trimble also says that Wright informed him that if the RUC and Army were about to move forward on the loyalist crowd – and he had reason to believe that they would do so at 2 a.m. on Thursday 11 July – then the paramilitaries might retaliate. Trimble states that he rang Mayhew and asked him to pull back the security forces in the light of the warning; the Ulster Secretary, for whatever reason, agreed to the request and Army manoeuvres and the police profile were lowered by 7 or 8 p.m. on Wednesday 10 July. Wright denied that this part of the conversation took place, but whatever the truth of the matter one senior RUC officer is under no illusion as to the impact of ‘King Rat’s’ presence: ‘Wright’s threats were a part of the reversal of the ban on the march,’ he states.⁴⁵ Jim Blair also believes that ‘the Wright factor’ played its part in this decision, though he is not sure that it was necessarily the main element in the ultimate ruling.⁴⁶ Trimble now says of the ‘digger episode’: ‘At the end of the day, looking back at it, I now think it was all a bluff.’ Gracey subsequently even said to Trimble that he had an understanding with Wright dating back to 1995 that nothing serious would happen.⁴⁷ At the time, though, the threat appeared real enough. Daphne Trimble recalls that Trimble was desperately worried that bloodshed could both end his career and the chance of peace. If things went wrong, and the whole country erupted in violence, he would be blamed as MP for the area and any prospect of a deal with nationalist Ireland would be lost – perhaps for ever. This explains why he took the huge risk which he did in meeting Wright, even though he knew that if it emerged it would cost him dearly in terms of opinion on the British mainland as well as amongst Catholics.⁴⁸