Sir Patrick will not be back - win, lose or draw

SIR Patrick Mayhew was in valedictory mode: relaxed, chirpy and buoyant. Against the imperial backdrop of Belfast City Hall he did not actually tell us to cheer up but he was hopeful for the future.

He had served a full parliamentary term as Northern Secretary, more than any of his predecessors. He had met most of the main players, confronted all the intractable problems. But now, after five years, would he say Churchill was wrong when he spoke of the dreary steeples of Fermanagh and Tyrone" being always with us?.

"Of course, the difficulties that form the basis of the conflict here in Northern Ireland are very long," said Sir Patrick. But it was rather unwise to pick on a single phrase of the "voluminous work" of Mr Churchill.

"But I do believe that the foundations have been laid for a process by which people will no longer be dominated by the conflict."

Sir Patrick was polite at his last press "doorstep". But he indicated he would be happy to see the back of the Northern press pack, particularly when the first question put to him was: did he feel a sense of failure or feel he squandered the opportunity for peace presented by the IRA ceasefire?

"What a characteristically negative question for me to face when confronting the media of Northern Ireland," he said, before adding it was for history to decide whether he was a failure.

His message for his successor was that she or he should never "underestimate the goodwill, and the kindness of the people of Northern Ireland right across the community". Sir Patrick hoped the mood of the people was one of compromise. He believed a political accommodation could be reached based on consent and agreement between the two communities.

"I am very confident as I leave Northern Ireland after five years that that resolution is going to succeed," he said.

"And I very much hope that what is happening in the inward mind of the province is an understanding that there does have to be a coming together, there does have to be something in the order of a compromise rather than confrontation.

That sense of compromise must also be harnessed to defuse the tensions of the marching season. "I very much hope that everybody in these coming months will allow themselves to be helped by the parades commission, and will themselves help the parades commission in their difficult task," he said.

On his efforts to engage republicans in the peace process, Sir Patrick said: "I believed that there was a prospect that the IRA would learn what has always been the truth, that there is no prospect of changing the course of the democratic government of the UK by violent means, or by the threat of violence.

"I wanted that day, when they would realise that, to come sooner rather than later. I hope that they will still come to recognise it."

Sir Patrick said it was a nostalgic moment for himself and his wife Lady Jean Mayhew, to say goodbye to Northern Ireland.

And despite his occasional annoyance with press "negativity", Sir Patrick received from his senior officials in the Northern Ireland Office a Martyn Turner cartoon showing him, his bags packed, delightedly leaving these green and orange shores.