John Hume - Reputation

Reputation

Hume is credited with being the thinker behind many of the recent political developments in Northern Ireland, from the power-sharing Sunningdale Agreement to the Anglo-Irish Agreement and the Belfast Agreement. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998 alongside the then-leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, David Trimble.

When David Trimble became First Minister it was expected that Hume would take the role of his deputy, being leader of the second largest party, the SDLP. Instead this role was handed to Seamus Mallon, also of the SDLP. Some political journalists cited a bad working relationship between Hume and Trimble despite collecting the Nobel prize with him.

On his retirement from the leadership of the SDLP in 2001 he was praised across the political divide, even by his longtime opponent, fellow MP and MEP, the Rev. Ian Paisley. Hume holds the Tip O'Neill Chair in Peace Studies at the University of Ulster, currently funded by The Ireland Funds.


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