He concentrated on masterminding the DUP’s battle to displace the Ulster Unionist party while doubtless privately wondering when Paisley would retire.

While Margaret Thatcher was unionist at heart, the situation in the North wasnot working. In Garret FitzGerald she found a leader to reach agreement with

James Molyneaux made admission during 1985 talks over Orange parades

The prospect of a united Germany faced huge hostility but became a reality just 11 months after the Berlin Wall fell

Papers show ambivalence on part of Thatcher and Northern secretary King

Roles of Douglas Hurd and RUC chief constable in RUC decision to re-route controversial Orange parade in Portadown in 1985 revealed in confidential files

RUC commander gave the order to fire on an innocent woman in the street

Sir Ken Bloomfield described the DUP leader in unusually glowing terms

Opinion: genuine representation of the interests of voters should not be written off as parish pump politics

Thatcher’s foreign secretary Douglas Hurd urged her not to obstruct history