David Trimble - House of Lords; Conservative Party

House of Lords; Conservative Party

At the general elections of 2005, Trimble was defeated by the Democratic Unionist Party's David Simpson in his bid for re-election to Parliament in Westminster. The Ulster Unionist Party retained only one seat in Parliament (out of 18 in Northern Ireland) after the 2005 general election, and Trimble resigned as Leader of the party on 7 May 2005.

On 11 April 2006, it was announced that Trimble would take a seat in the House of Lords as a working life peer, as an appointed members of the Peerage whose title may not be inherited. On 21 May 2006 it was announced that he had chosen the geographical designation Lisnagarvey, the original name for his adopted home town of Lisburn. Subsequently, on 2 June 2006, he was created Baron Trimble, of Lisnagarvey in the County of Antrim.

On 18 December 2006, he announced that he would be standing down from the Northern Ireland Assembly at the next election.

Trimble was named an Honorary Patron of the University Philosophical Society, Trinity College, Dublin.

On 17 April 2007, Trimble announced he had decided to join the Conservative Party in order to have greater influence in politics in the United Kingdom. At the same time, however, he stated that he did not intend to campaign against the Ulster Unionist Party, and proposed the idea of a future alliance between the Conservatives and the Ulster Unionists, similar to that which had existed prior to 1974 and the fallout of the Sunningdale Agreement. This idea became reality with the formation of Ulster Conservatives and Unionists - New Force in late 2008. It was reported that if the Conservatives won the 2010 general election, Trimble would receive a "significant" ministerial role, possibly in the Cabinet. In the event, however, Trimble was not offered any governmental or front bench position following the formation of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government.

In May 2010 when the former prime minister of Spain Jose Maria Aznar initiated and launched the "Friends of Israel Initiative," a non-Jewish international project supporting Israel's right to exist, Trimble joined him along with Peru's former president Alejandro Toledo, Italian philosopher Marcelo Pear, former United States Ambassador to the United Nations John R. Bolton, and British historian Andrew Roberts.