Anti Trimble rhetoric dominates conference

IT might not conform with the general perception, but the Alliance Party leader, Lord Alderdice of Knock, can be both politically aggressive and cunning.

With May 1st in mind, he delivered a robust and astute address on Saturday aimed at galvanising the party for the general election ahead, and persuading moderate nationalists and unionists of the merits of Alliance.

The target for much of Lord Alderdice's cultured venom was David Trimble, with John Hume, Gerry Adams, Ian Paisley and Robert McCartney coming in for a more moderate and modulated form of censure.

Indeed, Mr Trimble was assailed by several of the speakers.

"Remember Drumcree mark one and two do you want a Drumcree three?" was the big pitch to any Ulster Unionist Party voters who may be thinking of switching allegiance.

Mr Trimble dominated proceedings to an almost embarrassing degree, but there was method in the tactic: Lord Alderdice and his senior colleagues believe there are unionists out there who were happy with James Molyneaux's softly softly, rather abstruse approach to politics and who recoil from the hardline posture of his successor.

The Alliance leader's contention was that "there is no hope" for Northern Ireland with the current polarisation caused by the right wing extremism of unionism and the "greater greening" of nationalism following from the Hume Adams initiative.

Equally, he argued, votes for smaller parties such as the Women's Coalition would be wasted. That was the message he and his senior colleagues hammered home on Saturday and which the party would be stressing during the campaign for Westminster and the subsequent local elections.

Lord Alderdice realises that being reasonable is not enough that being the party of moderation and reconciliation is a noble position but can often be ineffective when confronted with the traditional Northern politics of the sectarian head count.

Hence the concentration on the UUP leader. To woo wavering nationalists and unionists, Lord Alderdice, through the "Trimble bashing" and the assertiveness of his general attack on the Hume Adams initiative, was also trying to rid himself of the "Cultra factor".

Alliance is perceived as being terribly middle class. Cultra would be the Northern equivalent of leafy Dublin 4, and Lord Alderdice, with his combative delivery, was striving to widen the party's appeal. Here's a party that can scrap with the best of them, he was saying.

He argued that at other times of high political crisis in Northern Ireland, voters abandoned their "tribal identification" to support Alliance, thus sending a message that they wanted the main parties to engage in fruitful dialogue. Notwithstanding the current polarisation, he believed it could happen again.

Aside from the attacks on David Trimble, the conference was pretty subdued. This was explained, according to Alliance deputy leader Seamus Close, by the current political stalemate and the potential for the North to slip back to the pre ceasefire level of violence. Hardly surprising therefore that the mood was not one of ebullience and pre election fervour. Lord Alderdice's political prognosis was generally gloomy and that seemed to permeate the conference.

The Alliance leader warned that unless there was a recommitment to more centrist politics and a defusing of current tensions, the North would become engulfed "in deeper and darker politics than we have ever seen before".

His unscripted speech was warmly received and the party appeared to be prepared for the long days and nights ahead of trying to persuade voters there was an alternative to what he dubbed the "tribal" politics of traditional unionism and nationalism.