Ian PaisleyFormer Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Ian Paisley has died aged 88.
Some of the biggest names in British and Irish politics have paid tribute to a man once known as Dr No who eventually embraced the peace process and power-sharing with Sinn Fein.
Dr Paisley was a firebrand fundamentalist Protestant preacher and polarising figure whose vehement opposition to dealing with the IRA and extreme anti-Catholic rhetoric was legendary.
The bellicose symbol of unionist defiance was famous for bellowing “never, never, never” during a mass protest against Irish government involvement in Northern Ireland affairs in the 1980s.
He helped wreck earlier attempts at political accord, became the ultimate protest figure and promised to smash Sinn Fein. But, in a potent symbol of the ground covered by political negotiations which largely ended violence, he entered government with republicans in 2007 as Stormont’s first minister after republicans lent support to the police.
Eventually his partnership with former IRA commander Martin McGuinness at the head of government led to them being dubbed the Chuckle Brothers, and Mr McGuinness described him as a friend after his family announced his death today.
Paisley’s wife Baroness Eileen Paisley said: “My beloved husband, Ian, entered his eternal rest this morning. Although ours is the grand hope of reunion, naturally as a family we are heartbroken.”
Prime Minister David Cameron said Paisley was a controversial figure for large parts of his career.
“Yet the contribution he made in his later years to political stability in Northern Ireland was huge,” he added.
“In particular, his decision to take his party into government with Sinn Fein in 2007 required great courage and leadership, for which everyone in these islands should be grateful.”
Former prime ministers Tony Blair, Sir John Major and Gordon Brown plus current DUP leader and Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson also paid tribute.
Although ours is the grand hope of reunion, naturally as a family we are heartbroken
Paisley was elected to Westminster in 1970 as the Protestant Unionist MP for North Antrim whose Free Presbyterian theology infused his politics and permeated his oratory.
A year later he founded the DUP, which he led until 2008. In 1979 he was elected to the European Parliament where his views on the Catholic Church caused controversy – most notably when he denounced Pope John Paul II as the “anti-Christ” during a visit to the Parliament in 1988.