0:00:03 > 0:00:07The 8th May, 2007.
0:00:07 > 0:00:10At Stormont in Northern Ireland, a process was under way
0:00:10 > 0:00:13that few believed they would ever witness -
0:00:13 > 0:00:16the end of one of the most brutal and intractable conflicts
0:00:16 > 0:00:19in modern history.
0:00:19 > 0:00:23At the centre of it all was the Reverend Ian Paisley,
0:00:23 > 0:00:25a man who for more than 50 years
0:00:25 > 0:00:29had been at the heart of Ireland's troubled history.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32Demonstrations continually!
0:00:32 > 0:00:34Praise God, we'll fight again.
0:00:34 > 0:00:37For many, Paisley's deafening words of doom
0:00:37 > 0:00:40had helped stoke some of its worst excesses.
0:00:40 > 0:00:45Once and for all, to show the world where Ulster stands.
0:00:45 > 0:00:50But now, Paisley was being feted by the British Prime Minister,
0:00:50 > 0:00:52a former leader of the Provisional IRA and
0:00:52 > 0:00:55the Prime Minister of Ireland,
0:00:55 > 0:00:59a man whose hand he had, until then, refused to shake.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02We saw him as a ranting preacher who was always shouting abuse
0:01:02 > 0:01:04at everything to do with the South
0:01:04 > 0:01:07and everybody else despised him absolutely.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09For years, he'd denounced republicans
0:01:09 > 0:01:11as terrorists and murderers.
0:01:11 > 0:01:13The Troubles were started in Northern Ireland
0:01:13 > 0:01:16by a deliberate republican conspiracy.
0:01:16 > 0:01:17And said that even dealing with them
0:01:17 > 0:01:19was the very worst form of treachery.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22I suppose there was some degree of not knowing
0:01:22 > 0:01:25whether or not we would hit it off sufficiently.
0:01:25 > 0:01:27This was the final chapter
0:01:27 > 0:01:30in one of the most controversial careers in British politics.
0:01:30 > 0:01:33This has always been our stance.
0:01:33 > 0:01:34Against all the odds,
0:01:34 > 0:01:36the man known for decades as Dr No...
0:01:36 > 0:01:38No surrender!
0:01:38 > 0:01:40Never! Never!
0:01:40 > 0:01:42..had just finally said yes.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46At long last, we are starting upon the road...
0:01:46 > 0:01:49Ian won't be the first figure in history
0:01:49 > 0:01:51that has begun identified as one thing
0:01:51 > 0:01:55and ended indentified as something completely different.
0:01:55 > 0:01:57But the truth is that in the end,
0:01:57 > 0:02:00when put in a position of leadership and given the chance to make peace,
0:02:00 > 0:02:02he made it.
0:02:14 > 0:02:18IAN PAISLEY: 'Lord, as this battle goes on,
0:02:18 > 0:02:22'the forces of Popery and the forces of lying and slander rage,
0:02:22 > 0:02:24'and the forces of false ecumenism
0:02:24 > 0:02:26'that would lead us back to bondage.
0:02:26 > 0:02:32'Stand fast in the liberty where Christ has made us free.
0:02:32 > 0:02:38'God save Ulster and God Save the Queen.'
0:02:38 > 0:02:41When Ian Paisley was born in 1926,
0:02:41 > 0:02:46Northern Ireland was the United Kingdom's newest addition.
0:02:46 > 0:02:48At the end of the Irish War of Independence,
0:02:48 > 0:02:51Ireland had been split in two.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55The new entity of Northern Ireland had a Protestant majority
0:02:55 > 0:02:59wedded to the union with Britain and fervently opposed to
0:02:59 > 0:03:01the overwhelmingly Catholic state in the South.
0:03:06 > 0:03:08Paisley grew up in a very rural world
0:03:08 > 0:03:13of deeply held religious beliefs and high church attendance.
0:03:13 > 0:03:18His family were Protestant Unionists of the most zealous kind
0:03:18 > 0:03:22whose lives were defined by the absolute authority of the Bible
0:03:22 > 0:03:25and the need to be born again -
0:03:25 > 0:03:28to be saved from the hellfire of eternal damnation.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31This burning holiness of God...
0:03:31 > 0:03:35'My grandfather got converted at the age of about 16.'
0:03:35 > 0:03:37And he must have been a very powerful speaker,
0:03:37 > 0:03:42because he went home, he cleared out his father's barn in Sixmilecross
0:03:42 > 0:03:44and he started to preach.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48And he converted his own father and mother. He converted his sister.
0:03:48 > 0:03:50He then converted his neighbours.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54Paisley was one of three children.
0:03:54 > 0:03:56His parents were educated but poor
0:03:56 > 0:04:00and on a Pastor's pay, the family often struggled to make ends meet.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06My dad tells the story, whenever he's spoken about it,
0:04:06 > 0:04:08that, you know, his own father said to him,
0:04:08 > 0:04:10"I don't know where the next meal's coming from,
0:04:10 > 0:04:12"but we will survive this, we will get through this."
0:04:12 > 0:04:14And it was a difficult time for the family.
0:04:14 > 0:04:18Paisley followed in his parents' footsteps.
0:04:18 > 0:04:23As a teenager, he preached his first sermon in a tin hut
0:04:23 > 0:04:28and was soon heard in small gospel halls all over Northern Ireland.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31At the age of 20, he was ordained as a minister.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36Paisley's religious beliefs defined his life.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39In the political sphere,
0:04:39 > 0:04:41there are principles that I have imbibed
0:04:41 > 0:04:45and I believe they are principles that are Biblical-based
0:04:45 > 0:04:49and I believe that I have a right to contend for those.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53I don't see how anybody can condemn a man for doing that.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56If he's going to be a two-timer and say one thing to one person
0:04:56 > 0:05:00and another thing to another, well, that will catch up on him.
0:05:00 > 0:05:01I recall he was a physically big man
0:05:01 > 0:05:04and he occasionally would get so passionate,
0:05:04 > 0:05:08he would actually bang on the forms and the form would virtually bounce.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12Yet they were under God's wrath...
0:05:12 > 0:05:16After the prayer meeting was over, we would say to each other
0:05:16 > 0:05:20"Big Ian thinks God's deaf," because Ian used to...he bellowed.
0:05:20 > 0:05:24He has a great voice, a massive physical man and a great voice.
0:05:24 > 0:05:29Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
0:05:29 > 0:05:34and thou shalt be saved.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39For my father, preaching was a physical act.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42He sweats when he preaches, he punches, he jabs.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46And that created a certain amount of awe for me as a child,
0:05:46 > 0:05:48to watch this man perform.
0:05:48 > 0:05:52Because when I saw others do it, it was pretty poor.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55You know, but when I watched him do it, it was magnificent.
0:05:55 > 0:06:00Whatever he did, Paisley wanted to be in control.
0:06:00 > 0:06:04So in 1951, when he found a Presbyterian congregation
0:06:04 > 0:06:08split by a feud, the 25-year-old persuaded the dissidents
0:06:08 > 0:06:11to break away and set up a new church,
0:06:11 > 0:06:14the Free Presbyterians, with him as their leader.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19If Paisley is known for one aspect
0:06:19 > 0:06:20in terms of the way that he
0:06:20 > 0:06:24prospered both in the church and in politics,
0:06:24 > 0:06:26it was as a splitter and a divider.
0:06:26 > 0:06:28That's how he built the church
0:06:28 > 0:06:31and it's how he also built his political party as well.
0:06:31 > 0:06:33People can say what they like.
0:06:33 > 0:06:35There's talk that I'm a splitter.
0:06:35 > 0:06:37I can't split anything.
0:06:37 > 0:06:40They said that about Christ.
0:06:40 > 0:06:42They said Christ was a divider.
0:06:42 > 0:06:46The Lord Jesus Christ said, "Well, I am.
0:06:46 > 0:06:51He said, "I have not come to send peace on earth, but a sword."
0:06:51 > 0:06:54From his new church, Paisley began to preach a message
0:06:54 > 0:06:58that would remain consistent throughout his life -
0:06:58 > 0:07:01about the evils of Catholicism.
0:07:01 > 0:07:06Romanism has controlled in this land for many centuries.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09And Romanism has bred poverty
0:07:09 > 0:07:12and ignorance and priest-craft and superstition.
0:07:14 > 0:07:15Paisley's brand of Christianity
0:07:15 > 0:07:20harked back to the 16th century Protestant Reformation.
0:07:20 > 0:07:21It meant that throughout his life
0:07:21 > 0:07:25he harboured a particular hatred of the Pope.
0:07:25 > 0:07:28How much I...
0:07:28 > 0:07:30I denounce you as...
0:07:30 > 0:07:34PARLIAMENT AND PAISLEY SHOUT
0:07:34 > 0:07:36Mr Paisley!
0:07:36 > 0:07:38Mr Paisley!
0:07:38 > 0:07:42Mr Paisley, I now exclude you from this House...
0:07:42 > 0:07:45'Show me the Pope in the Bible.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48'Show me the massing priests in the Bible.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51'Show me the confessional box in the Bible.'
0:07:51 > 0:07:53Show me Transubstantiation in the Bible.
0:07:53 > 0:07:54Show me the doctrines of Rome.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57They're not there. They're not in the Bible.
0:07:59 > 0:08:01Next to his faith,
0:08:01 > 0:08:05one of the most important influences in his life was his wife, Eileen.
0:08:05 > 0:08:10They got married in 1956 after a five year courtship.
0:08:10 > 0:08:11He was 30.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14She was the 23-year-old daughter
0:08:14 > 0:08:18of a devout East Belfast Baptist family.
0:08:18 > 0:08:20They had five children.
0:08:22 > 0:08:25My mum met my dad when she was 17 or 18
0:08:25 > 0:08:27and they've been in love ever since.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30Mum knew everything about what Dad was planning on doing
0:08:30 > 0:08:32before anyone else.
0:08:32 > 0:08:34They would have discussed it.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37Let's say grace. Father, we thank thee for these tokens of thy love.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40Bless them to us, for Christ's sake, amen.
0:08:40 > 0:08:45To his closest followers, Paisley was always a prophet.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49And as head of his own church, he drew huge crowds -
0:08:49 > 0:08:52and saved souls - throughout the 1950s and '60s.
0:08:52 > 0:08:53We will stand to sing.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56Let's really sing it with all our hearts. Everyone.
0:08:56 > 0:09:02# Would you be free from your burden of sin?
0:09:02 > 0:09:08# There's power in the blood Power in the blood... #
0:09:08 > 0:09:10Everywhere he looked, Paisley was convinced that
0:09:10 > 0:09:14Protestant Unionism was increasingly under siege,
0:09:14 > 0:09:19from social liberals and modernisers to Catholics and Irish Nationalists.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25Ulster was regarded as almost a sacred entity, almost like the way
0:09:25 > 0:09:29the Jewish would have regarded, or some Jews would regard Israel
0:09:29 > 0:09:32as, you know, the chosen land,
0:09:32 > 0:09:34or the land that was given to them by God.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38Ulster was seen in that light as having been given to us.
0:09:38 > 0:09:43It was the last bastion of Protestantism in Europe.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46PIPE BAND MARCH PLAYS
0:09:46 > 0:09:50Paisley's religious beliefs also defined his politics.
0:09:50 > 0:09:55They drew on an ancient fear forged by centuries of Irish history.
0:09:55 > 0:09:57Protestants had first arrived in large numbers
0:09:57 > 0:10:00in Ulster in the 17th century.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04Bitter historical experience had convinced them that at any time,
0:10:04 > 0:10:08the indigenous Catholic population might rise up and slaughter them.
0:10:10 > 0:10:11'And I believe this,
0:10:11 > 0:10:15'if we do this, our enemies will be confounded.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18'The lying tongues will be silenced.
0:10:18 > 0:10:24'And that Ulster shall remain firm to the very end.'
0:10:26 > 0:10:30It's the same fear that the South African whites had
0:10:30 > 0:10:31against the blacks,
0:10:31 > 0:10:35the same fear that American whites, the Tea Party,
0:10:35 > 0:10:37has against Barack Obama.
0:10:37 > 0:10:41A very deep fear that predated the 1960s
0:10:41 > 0:10:44and Paisley knew that very well and fed off it,
0:10:44 > 0:10:47manipulated it,
0:10:47 > 0:10:49and used it for his own advantage.
0:10:49 > 0:10:55All the slander, all the lying about me will not stop me
0:10:55 > 0:11:00in my campaign in Ulster, to keep Ulster out of the South of Ireland.
0:11:00 > 0:11:05In 1966, tensions in Belfast between Catholic republicans
0:11:05 > 0:11:08and Protestant loyalists reached a new peak.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11Republicans marked the 50th anniversary
0:11:11 > 0:11:15of the Easter Rising against British rule by holding a march.
0:11:17 > 0:11:21Preaching that this was the start of a new Catholic-inspired plot
0:11:21 > 0:11:25to destroy Ulster, orchestrated by a resurgent Irish Republican Army,
0:11:25 > 0:11:29the IRA, Paisley organised a counter march.
0:11:34 > 0:11:36I have already told your folks, I'm not speaking to,
0:11:36 > 0:11:38I don't speak to the press.
0:11:38 > 0:11:40You'll hear me preach at the service and that is all.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43This is the first approach we have made to you.
0:11:43 > 0:11:45No, it isn't. Will you excuse me, sir?
0:11:46 > 0:11:50Sergeant, these men here are...
0:11:50 > 0:11:54'He was involved in very sort of extremist organisations,'
0:11:54 > 0:11:57one in particular called Ulster Protestant Action,
0:11:57 > 0:12:02which campaigned to keep areas Protestant.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05Paisley didn't just denounce Catholics,
0:12:05 > 0:12:08there were Protestants he detested, too.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11Liberals - as he saw them - who were prepared to negotiate
0:12:11 > 0:12:15with the Catholic-dominated Irish Republic.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19In 1966, he set up his own newspaper and used it to attack
0:12:19 > 0:12:24the Northern Irish Unionist Prime Minister, Captain O'Neill.
0:12:24 > 0:12:29Captain O'Neill sold the pass to the Roman Catholic Church.
0:12:29 > 0:12:35'Again, Paisley was making demands and standing up for issues
0:12:35 > 0:12:37'which the Unionist Government was not prepared to do.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39'And why was that?'
0:12:39 > 0:12:41Because there was a weakness within Unionism,
0:12:41 > 0:12:45just as there was a weakness within the Protestant churches
0:12:45 > 0:12:47who were becoming more friendly with the Catholics,
0:12:47 > 0:12:51the Unionists were becoming more friendly with nationalists
0:12:51 > 0:12:55and this was all a sign that the Protestant state of Northern Ireland
0:12:55 > 0:12:57was under attack from within.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02O'Neill was the archetypal member of the ruling class
0:13:02 > 0:13:05that had governed Northern Ireland for decades.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07What is at stake, brethren,
0:13:07 > 0:13:11is little less than the British connection.
0:13:11 > 0:13:13Aristocratic and educated at Eton,
0:13:13 > 0:13:16he was the complete antithesis of Paisley,
0:13:16 > 0:13:18the working class street preacher
0:13:18 > 0:13:21who as a child had experienced severe poverty.
0:13:22 > 0:13:24Can we ask you if you think that
0:13:24 > 0:13:27the Reverend Paisley is a threat to peace in Ulster?
0:13:28 > 0:13:33Well, his activities don't exactly lead to harmony,
0:13:33 > 0:13:35shall we put it that way?
0:13:38 > 0:13:41In order to cement his reputation as a leader of his people,
0:13:41 > 0:13:45and to identify himself with the Protestant heroes of history,
0:13:45 > 0:13:50Paisley appeared to be looking for conflict with the establishment.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53I think there's absolutely no doubt that he set out to provoke
0:13:53 > 0:13:57the police on various occasions to force them to arrest him
0:13:57 > 0:14:01and in the ambition, possibly, of ending up in jail.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05In June 1966, Paisley organised a march
0:14:05 > 0:14:09near a very Catholic area of Belfast.
0:14:09 > 0:14:13It was predictably provocative and ended in widespread rioting.
0:14:15 > 0:14:20The authorities were forced to act, charging him with unlawful assembly.
0:14:20 > 0:14:24Paisley and two of his key acolytes were arrested.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28Well, of course we were found guilty.
0:14:28 > 0:14:32Fined £40 per something like that,
0:14:32 > 0:14:35and bound over to keep the peace two years.
0:14:35 > 0:14:40Well, Dr Paisley, myself and the Rev John Wylie decided
0:14:40 > 0:14:43we'd not accept this binding over.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46We ended up going to jail for three months.
0:14:48 > 0:14:50Paisley spent his three-month imprisonment
0:14:50 > 0:14:54masterminding how best to exploit his new-found martyrdom.
0:14:54 > 0:14:58Until now, he had mostly shunned the press.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02But on his release from prison, he held an impromptu press conference.
0:15:02 > 0:15:06The authorities tried to smuggle me out of this prison
0:15:06 > 0:15:08at this unearthly hour.
0:15:08 > 0:15:12Paisley had already conquered the pulpit and the soap box.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16Now it was the turn of the microphone.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19There never was any violence at our meetings. Never any violence.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22Our people are not a violent people.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24The prison, Crumlin Road Prison,
0:15:24 > 0:15:27is a place that I wouldn't wish my worst enemy to be in.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30Well, Doctor Paisley loved the time in prison.
0:15:30 > 0:15:35We had a thoroughly enjoyable season. He wrote a book.
0:15:35 > 0:15:37It was a thoroughly enjoyable time.
0:15:37 > 0:15:42By 1969, Paisley's congregation had quadrupled in size,
0:15:42 > 0:15:45so he opened a massive new church in Belfast.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48As Ireland's most militant fundamentalist,
0:15:48 > 0:15:51it was finally time for his congregation
0:15:51 > 0:15:53to become a constituency.
0:15:53 > 0:15:55As he considered entering politics,
0:15:55 > 0:15:59another opportunity arose for Paisley to prove his credentials
0:15:59 > 0:16:03as a staunch Protestant Unionist.
0:16:03 > 0:16:07The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Movement had begun a campaign
0:16:07 > 0:16:11of non-violent disobedience, calling for equal rights for Catholics
0:16:11 > 0:16:16in terms of housing, voting, jobs and the police.
0:16:16 > 0:16:18What many saw as progress,
0:16:18 > 0:16:21Paisley denounced as another republican plot.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26The Civil Rights movement... As I said in those days,
0:16:26 > 0:16:31the CRA, just straighten up the C and it forms an I - IRA.
0:16:31 > 0:16:33- You believe that?- Yes, certainly.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36It was only a front.
0:16:37 > 0:16:41Paisley refused to believe that the Civil Rights movement was
0:16:41 > 0:16:45genuine at all. His line was that this is an IRA plot.
0:16:45 > 0:16:47In the early stages of the Civil Rights movement,
0:16:47 > 0:16:49and for a long time, it was NOT an IRA plot.
0:16:49 > 0:16:51There was no IRA presence within it.
0:16:54 > 0:16:56I'd just like to say that
0:16:56 > 0:16:59Protestants and loyalists of this province
0:16:59 > 0:17:03have demonstrated their willingness today
0:17:03 > 0:17:07to take their stand in defence of their heritage.
0:17:07 > 0:17:11It was Paisley's responsibility for one particularly violent incident
0:17:11 > 0:17:15that has remained controversial ever since.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19On New Year's Day 1969, the Civil Rights protesters set out
0:17:19 > 0:17:22to march from Belfast to Londonderry.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27What happened to them at Burntollet Bridge
0:17:27 > 0:17:31became an iconic moment at the start of Northern Ireland's darkest years.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36It began with a speech made by Paisley the night before
0:17:36 > 0:17:39at a rally in Derry.
0:17:39 > 0:17:41Well, Paisley's presence and confrontations
0:17:41 > 0:17:44and counter-demonstrations always increased tension.
0:17:44 > 0:17:45There was no relaxation
0:17:45 > 0:17:47while Paisley was around or might be about.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53Paisley brought along his close associate, Major Ronald Bunting.
0:17:53 > 0:17:55Journalists were barred from the meeting
0:17:55 > 0:17:59as they addressed the local loyalist faithful together.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03Paisley then departed, leaving Bunting to lead the attack.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06Paisley was a great man for lighting a fuse
0:18:06 > 0:18:11and then scampering off, leaving others to handle the explosion
0:18:11 > 0:18:13and the aftermath of the explosion.
0:18:13 > 0:18:16And of course, Burntollet was a prime example of that.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19A lot of the people on the march - it was a student march, mainly.
0:18:19 > 0:18:22And a lot of people were actually secondary school students.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25They were 15, 16, 17-year-old girls.
0:18:25 > 0:18:27As the marchers approached Burntollet Bridge,
0:18:27 > 0:18:31Paisley's accomplice, Bunting, and his followers were waiting for them.
0:18:35 > 0:18:39They were armed with stones, iron bars and spiked clubs.
0:18:44 > 0:18:45In a well-organised ambush,
0:18:45 > 0:18:48Bunting's mob attacked the unarmed marchers,
0:18:48 > 0:18:51bombarding them with missiles and then charging them
0:18:51 > 0:18:55and badly beating both men and women indiscriminately.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01During the four-day march, more than 200 people were injured,
0:19:01 > 0:19:03many of them seriously.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09I have no doubt that the attackers at Burntollet
0:19:09 > 0:19:10were inspired by Paisley.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13He was an ugly presence on the political scene and played
0:19:13 > 0:19:17what I still regard as a vile role in stoking up sectarianism.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20Any time it looked, and maybe it was an illusion looking back on it,
0:19:20 > 0:19:23but occasionally it would look as if things were settling down.
0:19:23 > 0:19:25Any time that began to happen,
0:19:25 > 0:19:30Paisley was at hand to inject sectarian venom into the situation.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35Paisley's personal responsibility for Ireland's troubled history
0:19:35 > 0:19:39dogged him throughout his life.
0:19:39 > 0:19:41His connections to the men of violence
0:19:41 > 0:19:43often appeared to be very close.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46Two months after the attack at Burntollet Bridge,
0:19:46 > 0:19:49Belfast's water supply was hit by a series of bomb attacks
0:19:49 > 0:19:52carried out by loyalists.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55Some of the perpetrators were later shown
0:19:55 > 0:19:57to be closely connected to Paisley.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00The guy who was charged and convicted of those bombs,
0:20:00 > 0:20:03Sammy Stevenson, was his bodyguard.
0:20:03 > 0:20:06He was certainly, I think, very close to people who were
0:20:06 > 0:20:07involved in violence.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10When Paisley was questioned about it later, that this
0:20:10 > 0:20:13fella was a member of his church and a member of the Ulster Protestant
0:20:13 > 0:20:16Volunteers, of which Ian was the leader,
0:20:16 > 0:20:19he said that he couldn't be held responsible for all the actions
0:20:19 > 0:20:22of all the people within his group.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25But on reflection, I look back and say he should have.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28Then was the time to realise the power of his words
0:20:28 > 0:20:32and the influence he was having over individual people.
0:20:32 > 0:20:33CAR HORN HONKS
0:20:33 > 0:20:38But in terms of political power, Paisley's image as the hard man
0:20:38 > 0:20:41of Protestant Ulster was a real benefit.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44So, when Northern Irish Prime Minister Terence O'Neill
0:20:44 > 0:20:48called a surprise election, Paisley grasped the opportunity to stand
0:20:48 > 0:20:53against him and enter mainstream politics for the first time.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56I am a Protestant minister, sir, and I have always said I would only go
0:20:56 > 0:21:01into politics if the situation and the crisis pushed me into politics,
0:21:01 > 0:21:05and the Bannside electors have pushed me into taking this stand.
0:21:06 > 0:21:11The campaign was brutal, uncompromising and one-sided.
0:21:11 > 0:21:12I'm no friend of Captain O'Neill.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15The sooner he packs his bags and goes to Dublin,
0:21:15 > 0:21:16the better for all of us.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19This is no ordinary election.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22Captain O'Neill represents himself as the Cassius Clay
0:21:22 > 0:21:25of the Unionist Party, the greatest ever Prime Minister of Ulster.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28This, of course, is utter rubbish and nonsense.
0:21:28 > 0:21:29LAUGHTER
0:21:31 > 0:21:33From the beginning of his career,
0:21:33 > 0:21:38Paisley has had only one abiding ambition,
0:21:38 > 0:21:41and that was to be number one, the top dog.
0:21:43 > 0:21:47He brought down O'Neill by alleging that he was selling out traditional
0:21:47 > 0:21:52Unionist values and was associating, fraternising with the enemy.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58O'Neill's campaign to liberalise politics in Northern Ireland
0:21:58 > 0:22:00by encouraging better relations with the Catholic South
0:22:00 > 0:22:03was anathema to Paisley.
0:22:04 > 0:22:09Anyone who showed any signs of wanting to arrive at a
0:22:09 > 0:22:16solution for the whole community was attacked by Paisley as an apostate.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19They were betraying traditional Unionist values.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22our place within the United Kingdom,
0:22:22 > 0:22:25our Protestant religion, all of this was being betrayed.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29And because they were doing that, they were guilty of apostasy.
0:22:30 > 0:22:32Although O'Neill won the election,
0:22:32 > 0:22:35Paisley decimated the Prime Minister's vote.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38So, when O'Neill didn't turn up for the official count,
0:22:38 > 0:22:42it was his opponent who took the cheers of the crowd.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45Paisley was on the march to political office
0:22:45 > 0:22:46and nothing could stop him.
0:22:48 > 0:22:54There are 6,331 true blue Protestants...
0:22:54 > 0:22:55CHEERING
0:22:55 > 0:22:59..who will never bow the knee to the capitulation policy
0:22:59 > 0:23:01of Captain O'Neill.
0:23:01 > 0:23:02APPLAUSE
0:23:03 > 0:23:05GUNSHOTS AND PANICKED SHOUTING
0:23:06 > 0:23:10As Paisley savoured his growing political success,
0:23:10 > 0:23:14tension between the two communities, Catholic and Protestant,
0:23:14 > 0:23:17republican and loyalist, led to violence in the streets.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21Later that summer, in August 1969,
0:23:21 > 0:23:24after the police tried to disperse nationalists protesting
0:23:24 > 0:23:29against the loyalist march in Derry, there was a widespread outbreak
0:23:29 > 0:23:32of serious rioting that lasted for three days.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37You can never reconcile two irreconcilables,
0:23:37 > 0:23:42and as far as we are concerned, Roman Catholics can live here
0:23:42 > 0:23:46and can have their place here, but as far as the hierarchy
0:23:46 > 0:23:50of the church is concerned, until it is prepared to recognise
0:23:50 > 0:23:52the constitution of this country,
0:23:52 > 0:23:55then we are going to have a difficult position.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01The local police were unable to stop the fighting,
0:24:01 > 0:24:05and so, for the first time, British troops were deployed
0:24:05 > 0:24:07on the streets of Northern Ireland.
0:24:08 > 0:24:10ANGRY AND PANICKED SHOUTING
0:24:10 > 0:24:13The government's apparent inability to stop the violence
0:24:13 > 0:24:16boosted Paisley's popularity.
0:24:17 > 0:24:19Ian Richard Kyle Paisley...
0:24:19 > 0:24:2224,130.
0:24:22 > 0:24:24CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:24:27 > 0:24:29I accordingly declare...
0:24:30 > 0:24:35In April 1970, Paisley's electoral victory finally came.
0:24:35 > 0:24:36CHEERING
0:24:39 > 0:24:43He stood out from the rest because he was a conviction-led politician.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47He wasn't one of the professional politicians who joined politics
0:24:47 > 0:24:49to get a job.
0:24:49 > 0:24:51He was there and he didn't care less.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54Paisley the preacher and street demagogue
0:24:54 > 0:24:57was now Paisley the elected politician.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01Later that same year, he stood for election to the House of Commons
0:25:01 > 0:25:03and won again.
0:25:03 > 0:25:07He remained MP for North Antrim for the next 40 years.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09He even stood for the European Parliament
0:25:09 > 0:25:13and won another dramatic victory.
0:25:13 > 0:25:19Paisley was at all times fired by his ambition to run,
0:25:19 > 0:25:23or to be seen to run, Northern Ireland.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26He was a master of opportunism.
0:25:26 > 0:25:28And of course, standing for Europe,
0:25:28 > 0:25:32despite what he had said about it in the past, was an opportunity which
0:25:32 > 0:25:36he beat the drum about throughout his entire subsequent career,
0:25:36 > 0:25:40was that, "I have more votes than anybody else,
0:25:40 > 0:25:45"I am the most popular man. I am the great I am."
0:25:47 > 0:25:50Paisley now had his own church, his own newspaper
0:25:50 > 0:25:53and even his own new political party,
0:25:53 > 0:25:59the DUP - Democratic Unionist Party - set up in 1971.
0:25:59 > 0:26:00And in each of them,
0:26:00 > 0:26:03no-one was under any illusion as to who was the boss.
0:26:05 > 0:26:07I'm working as hard as I can...
0:26:07 > 0:26:10to get proper security into Northern Ireland.
0:26:10 > 0:26:12If I have your vote, you can help me to do that.
0:26:12 > 0:26:16- How are you, sir? How are you doing? - Good...
0:26:16 > 0:26:20I was involved in drawing up the rules and constitution of the party
0:26:20 > 0:26:24and it was at that moment that you realised just how
0:26:24 > 0:26:27dominant Paisley was. We would have spent hours wrangling over
0:26:27 > 0:26:30some new rule or article in the constitution and he would
0:26:30 > 0:26:33simply overthrow it and say, "I'm not having that."
0:26:33 > 0:26:34Get that one vote in...
0:26:34 > 0:26:38- Oh, aye.- The last shall be first, it's scriptural.
0:26:38 > 0:26:40So, although it called itself the Democratic Party
0:26:40 > 0:26:44it was totally dominated by Ian Paisley.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47- TANNOY:- Vote Paisley - number one.
0:26:47 > 0:26:52But Paisley's work as a constituency MP showed another, to some surprising,
0:26:52 > 0:26:55side of his character - the tireless
0:26:55 > 0:27:00champion of his constituents, from both sides of the sectarian divide.
0:27:00 > 0:27:01Nice to see you...
0:27:01 > 0:27:04Whenever he became a Member of Parliament, North Antrim had
0:27:04 > 0:27:07the worst public sanitation issues,
0:27:07 > 0:27:10fire problems, all sorts of stuff.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13My dad changed all that. He worked darn hard for people.
0:27:13 > 0:27:14He got things changed.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17He passionately cared for the people,
0:27:17 > 0:27:20and something he told me as a politician - "You're their servant.
0:27:20 > 0:27:21"Get out there and serve."
0:27:21 > 0:27:23EXPLOSION
0:27:25 > 0:27:27What happened just then?
0:27:27 > 0:27:31The brutal tit-for-tat violence between the two warring communities,
0:27:31 > 0:27:36and also the British Army, now began to spiral out of control.
0:27:36 > 0:27:38Starting with Bloody Sunday,
0:27:38 > 0:27:421972 was the worst year in Northern Ireland's troubled history.
0:27:42 > 0:27:48There were almost 1,500 bombings and nearly 500 deaths.
0:27:48 > 0:27:50CHILDREN'S CHORAL SINGING
0:27:53 > 0:27:57Paisley's role in stoking those sectarian tensions has always
0:27:57 > 0:28:00been hotly debated.
0:28:00 > 0:28:02I never started the trouble at all.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05The Troubles were started in Northern Ireland by a deliberate
0:28:05 > 0:28:06republican conspiracy.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13..Don't just interrupt, you have asked a question.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15Let me tell you it was a republican conspiracy that
0:28:15 > 0:28:17brought about what has taken place.
0:28:24 > 0:28:28The IRA and the effect of their terrorism -
0:28:28 > 0:28:32that was fodder for him,
0:28:32 > 0:28:36that was the thing that fired up his whole political career,
0:28:36 > 0:28:41opposition to IRA violence which was evidence of a
0:28:41 > 0:28:45great nationalist plot to subsume Northern Ireland within a united Ireland.
0:28:48 > 0:28:53As a front-line politician in Northern Ireland's bitterly-divided society,
0:28:53 > 0:28:57Paisley and his family lived under constant threat.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01Ever since I can remember, my father's had to carry
0:29:01 > 0:29:03a gun for his own protection.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06Our house has always been completely bullet-proofed,
0:29:06 > 0:29:08bomb-proofed,
0:29:08 > 0:29:12been a secure room in it, alarmed to police stations.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15There's always been an armed guard. It was like a fortress.
0:29:15 > 0:29:17And it's only now when you look back on it, if I had
0:29:17 > 0:29:19my kids now and if they had to go through it,
0:29:19 > 0:29:20I would hate it for them.
0:29:22 > 0:29:27By March 1972, the local authorities had lost control of the situation.
0:29:27 > 0:29:30The local parliament was closed
0:29:30 > 0:29:33and direct rule was imposed from Westminster.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36Would you be fool enough to say that this Constitution Act is
0:29:36 > 0:29:40widely accepted in this community when it took 40 armoured cars
0:29:40 > 0:29:46and 1,000 army men and police to do what they did today?
0:29:46 > 0:29:47What are you doing with that man?!
0:29:47 > 0:29:50CLAMOUR
0:29:51 > 0:29:54But as a succession of Westminster politicians
0:29:54 > 0:29:58and civil servants were to discover, finding solutions would be
0:29:58 > 0:30:02an impossible task without the agreement of Ian Paisley.
0:30:03 > 0:30:06I suppose my impression of Dr Paisley before I ever
0:30:06 > 0:30:09got to know him was that he was a bigot...
0:30:09 > 0:30:11a bit of a bully, a loudmouth,
0:30:11 > 0:30:14and not really very adept at defending the real
0:30:14 > 0:30:16interests of the people of Northern Ireland
0:30:16 > 0:30:19which surely lay in jobs, housing
0:30:19 > 0:30:22and welfare, rather than in banging on about
0:30:22 > 0:30:25prejudicial anti-Catholic views?
0:30:25 > 0:30:27If you are not content with Ulster,
0:30:27 > 0:30:30if you don't like us,
0:30:30 > 0:30:34then go to the south of Ireland and stay there!
0:30:34 > 0:30:36CHEERING
0:30:39 > 0:30:41LOYALIST BAND PLAYS
0:30:43 > 0:30:45During the 1970s and '80s,
0:30:45 > 0:30:48successive British Prime Ministers attempted
0:30:48 > 0:30:52to broker a deal between the various warring parties in Northern Ireland.
0:30:52 > 0:30:56In 1973, it was the turn of Edward Heath's government
0:30:56 > 0:31:00when he signed the Sunningdale Agreement with the Irish Republic.
0:31:00 > 0:31:04The agreement meant Unionists would share power with moderate
0:31:04 > 0:31:06constitutional nationalists.
0:31:06 > 0:31:09Paisley opposed it at every turn.
0:31:09 > 0:31:10No surrender!
0:31:10 > 0:31:12CHEERING
0:31:12 > 0:31:17Dr Paisley was seen as an obstacle in Whitehall amongst civil servants.
0:31:17 > 0:31:21An obstacle to ever making any progress in defeating the IRA
0:31:21 > 0:31:24and stabilising the situation in Northern Ireland.
0:31:24 > 0:31:26CHEERING
0:31:26 > 0:31:29Paisley allied himself with loyalist paramilitaries to enforce
0:31:29 > 0:31:33a general strike that brought down the power-sharing assembly
0:31:33 > 0:31:36and ended the Sunningdale Agreement.
0:31:36 > 0:31:41It appeared that as long as HE said no, the voters said yes.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44CHEERING
0:31:44 > 0:31:46My father, when he was public, in the public persona,
0:31:46 > 0:31:50had to be tough, had to be strong, he had to be determined.
0:31:50 > 0:31:54He had to be willing to say no, and strong enough to mean no,
0:31:54 > 0:31:59and strong enough to deliver a no to get the right result at the end.
0:31:59 > 0:32:04In the house he was himself and when the door closed, he was our dad.
0:32:04 > 0:32:08I always taught my children... I always said to them,
0:32:08 > 0:32:10"Look, you are my kith and kin.
0:32:10 > 0:32:15"But you are yourself, you have entirely a personality that is yours.
0:32:15 > 0:32:19We do not see eye-to-eye on everything.
0:32:19 > 0:32:20You wouldn't be a...
0:32:20 > 0:32:22It's not zombies we're rearing, it's Paisleys.
0:32:22 > 0:32:25CHUCKLING: And they have their own nature.
0:32:28 > 0:32:34Ten years passed before another serious attempt at peace was made.
0:32:34 > 0:32:37Then it was Mrs Thatcher's turn - a Conservative
0:32:37 > 0:32:42and staunch Unionist and an outspoken opponent of republicanism.
0:32:42 > 0:32:45One of her closest political aides, Airey Neave,
0:32:45 > 0:32:47had been murdered in a terrorist bomb
0:32:47 > 0:32:50and she herself was almost blown up in Brighton by the IRA.
0:32:50 > 0:32:51SIREN WAILS
0:32:51 > 0:32:56To everyone else, Mrs Thatcher appeared to be Paisley's natural ally.
0:32:56 > 0:32:58But when, in 1985,
0:32:58 > 0:33:01she tried to break the deadlock in Northern Ireland by
0:33:01 > 0:33:05signing the Anglo-Irish Agreement, giving the South a limited say
0:33:05 > 0:33:09in the affairs of the North, Paisley denounced her as a traitor.
0:33:10 > 0:33:14Let Mrs Thatcher get the message -
0:33:14 > 0:33:17it will be over our dead bodies...!
0:33:17 > 0:33:19CHEERING
0:33:19 > 0:33:23He galvanised Unionism's denunciation of the agreement with a speech
0:33:23 > 0:33:27that rang out across Northern Ireland, Britain and the world.
0:33:28 > 0:33:31We say never!
0:33:31 > 0:33:32Never!
0:33:32 > 0:33:34Never!
0:33:34 > 0:33:35Never.
0:33:36 > 0:33:40The betrayal by Margaret Thatcher of the Unionist community in
0:33:40 > 0:33:43Northern Ireland with the Anglo-Irish Agreement...
0:33:43 > 0:33:46and, again, Ian's ability
0:33:46 > 0:33:50to articulate the case of those who were betrayed, I think, put him
0:33:50 > 0:33:55right at the front and centre of the leadership of that campaign.
0:33:57 > 0:33:59Paisley's fury at Mrs Thatcher extended to her
0:33:59 > 0:34:02Northern Ireland Secretary, Tom King.
0:34:02 > 0:34:05Every time he came to Belfast, he was put under siege.
0:34:05 > 0:34:08I remember the noise outside, you could hear the people
0:34:08 > 0:34:12hammering on the gates and there was very strong feeling at that time.
0:34:12 > 0:34:13SHOUTING
0:34:13 > 0:34:15Ian Paisley came
0:34:15 > 0:34:19and led a squad up the back stairs and was hammering on the doors.
0:34:19 > 0:34:22I don't believe it's sane and prudent for Mr King to be
0:34:22 > 0:34:24seen anywhere in Northern Ireland.
0:34:24 > 0:34:27And a lot of distinguished visitors sitting looking
0:34:27 > 0:34:31terrified at this hammering going on, because I was in the room.
0:34:33 > 0:34:36He has committed the greatest possible crime, of treason...
0:34:36 > 0:34:39- Yes!- And the more he's seen, the more he is inciting people.
0:34:39 > 0:34:42Any reaction to that incitement is his business.
0:34:42 > 0:34:44On his head!
0:34:44 > 0:34:47They were determined to make my life as unpleasant as possible.
0:34:47 > 0:34:52Did you see Tom King squealing on the television,
0:34:52 > 0:34:55squealing on the radio?!
0:34:55 > 0:34:58Paisley reserved his most vicious personal attacks
0:34:58 > 0:35:01for Mrs Thatcher herself.
0:35:01 > 0:35:04Despite her clear opposition to the IRA, Paisley accused
0:35:04 > 0:35:06her of being in league with republicans.
0:35:06 > 0:35:09You know, some of the things which Dr Paisley
0:35:09 > 0:35:11said about Margaret Thatcher were
0:35:11 > 0:35:13so absurd as to be, really, beyond the pale.
0:35:13 > 0:35:16For somebody, who only a year earlier, had been
0:35:16 > 0:35:19attacked by the IRA, nearly killed by the IRA.
0:35:19 > 0:35:21I mean, this was just so absurd.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24It gave Northern Ireland a bad reputation, not just
0:35:24 > 0:35:27with British public opinion, but more widely.
0:35:27 > 0:35:29To be honest, she rather gave up on him in the end.
0:35:31 > 0:35:35You are the blood-soaked ally of the IRA as long as you
0:35:35 > 0:35:40go on saying no to our conditions.
0:35:40 > 0:35:42No surrender!
0:35:42 > 0:35:45CHEERING
0:35:45 > 0:35:49Paisley always styled himself as the enemy of the IRA.
0:35:49 > 0:35:54His was the side of law and order, theirs of terrorism and murder.
0:35:54 > 0:35:56But his apparent links to loyalist terrorists
0:35:56 > 0:36:00continually embarrassed him throughout his political career.
0:36:00 > 0:36:04In November 1986, Paisley called his closest followers
0:36:04 > 0:36:08to a closed meeting to celebrate the founding of a new organisation
0:36:08 > 0:36:10called Ulster Resistance.
0:36:12 > 0:36:14It pledged to use all means to defeat
0:36:14 > 0:36:17Mrs Thatcher's Anglo-Irish Agreement.
0:36:17 > 0:36:20The meeting was filmed by a local cameraman.
0:36:22 > 0:36:26We are not playing a game of bluff!
0:36:26 > 0:36:30Mrs Thatcher, we mean business!
0:36:30 > 0:36:34CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:36:41 > 0:36:45I intend to give this movement of Ulster Resistance
0:36:45 > 0:36:48my undivided support.
0:36:48 > 0:36:52I will give it whatever political cover it needs.
0:36:54 > 0:36:57At the rally, leaflets were handed out stating
0:36:57 > 0:37:02Ulster Resistance's intent to take direct action as and when required
0:37:02 > 0:37:06to defeat Mrs Thatcher's Anglo-Irish Agreement.
0:37:06 > 0:37:10We had the biggest, two years in a row, the biggest political rally
0:37:10 > 0:37:13that there has been in the United Kingdom.
0:37:13 > 0:37:17Ulster Resistance was really formed to say to the government,
0:37:17 > 0:37:20"We will not take this lying down."
0:37:21 > 0:37:25Paisley held eight more Ulster Resistance rallies all over
0:37:25 > 0:37:26Northern Ireland.
0:37:26 > 0:37:29To the outside world, he was increasingly
0:37:29 > 0:37:32looking like a general with his own paramilitary army.
0:37:32 > 0:37:35I want to walk publically
0:37:35 > 0:37:40and tell the world that Dublin will never rule us!
0:37:46 > 0:37:47Three years later,
0:37:47 > 0:37:52Paisley appeared to have completely changed his tune when, during an
0:37:52 > 0:37:55election campaign, he was confronted by journalists
0:37:55 > 0:37:59about a loyalist arms scandal connecting illegal weapons
0:37:59 > 0:38:00to Ulster Resistance.
0:38:00 > 0:38:05I didn't set up the Ulster Resistance. That's untrue.
0:38:05 > 0:38:07Er, the Ulster Resistance was set up by the leadership
0:38:07 > 0:38:10- of Ulster Resistance.- But you associated...- What I said...
0:38:10 > 0:38:14Over the previous 18 months, the Northern Irish police had uncovered
0:38:14 > 0:38:17several large caches of illegal weapons, some of which
0:38:17 > 0:38:21were apparently intended for use by Ulster Resistance.
0:38:21 > 0:38:23Paisley's links with the organisation
0:38:23 > 0:38:25were now highly embarrassing.
0:38:25 > 0:38:28You have already heard my statement
0:38:28 > 0:38:30and we have nothing further to say to it.
0:38:30 > 0:38:33You needn't repeat or say anything more. That's all you're saying.
0:38:33 > 0:38:35- REPORTER:- I think we do need to know more.
0:38:35 > 0:38:37That's all right, you go with your press.
0:38:37 > 0:38:40You go with your press and do exactly what you like.
0:38:40 > 0:38:43I have already made the statement.
0:38:43 > 0:38:46But it wasn't just his connections to Ulster Resistance that
0:38:46 > 0:38:49were to cause Ian Paisley a measure of political embarrassment.
0:38:49 > 0:38:51Whether he liked it or not,
0:38:51 > 0:38:55leading men of violence often cited him as an inspiration.
0:38:55 > 0:38:59There was a survey done in Long Kesh one time, in the Maze Prison,
0:38:59 > 0:39:04when many young loyalist prisoners were asked about what was
0:39:04 > 0:39:07one of the main influences that put them behind bars
0:39:07 > 0:39:10and they said it was Paisley's speeches.
0:39:10 > 0:39:14My relationship with the paramilitaries have always been
0:39:14 > 0:39:19that I have opposed killing,
0:39:19 > 0:39:25always, and no matter who comes along
0:39:25 > 0:39:26they can never find out...
0:39:26 > 0:39:29What the government would like to do, even though they're in
0:39:29 > 0:39:32with the paramilitaries themselves, and even although they put
0:39:32 > 0:39:36them in government, they'd like to find somewhere in Paisley's past,
0:39:36 > 0:39:38he was associated.
0:39:39 > 0:39:42Many paramilitaries became disillusioned with
0:39:42 > 0:39:46Ian Paisley over his increasingly ambiguous attitude towards them.
0:39:46 > 0:39:50While he appeared to support them when it suited his political aims,
0:39:50 > 0:39:53whenever there were acts of violence he was one of the first
0:39:53 > 0:39:55to disown them.
0:39:55 > 0:39:59My hands are clean on that issue, because I'm a Christian,
0:39:59 > 0:40:01I don't believe in murder.
0:40:01 > 0:40:05In fact, my party put up all over Northern Ireland,
0:40:05 > 0:40:08"Thou shalt not kill" posters, which were torn down
0:40:08 > 0:40:09by the paramilitaries.
0:40:09 > 0:40:12I remember him doing an interview where he said,
0:40:12 > 0:40:15"If anybody attacks our people, we will kill them."
0:40:15 > 0:40:19He didn't say, "We will defend our people," or, "We will chase them."
0:40:19 > 0:40:21He says, "We will kill them."
0:40:21 > 0:40:27If an IRA man comes to a Protestant home and my men are there,
0:40:27 > 0:40:30they will kill that IRA man. Yes, sir.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33And when people did kill them, he disowned them.
0:40:35 > 0:40:38The loyalist paramilitaries eventually became
0:40:38 > 0:40:42so fed up with Paisley that they coined a new nickname for him -
0:40:42 > 0:40:44the Grand Old Duke of York.
0:40:44 > 0:40:48We'd been led to the top of the hill so many times by Ian Paisley
0:40:48 > 0:40:52and he never came with us. He always backed off. He always kept himself
0:40:52 > 0:40:55totally legal and didn't want to know, and I think from that
0:40:55 > 0:40:58point of view, people were sick of it.
0:40:58 > 0:41:01In Northern Ireland, there have been more clashes between police
0:41:01 > 0:41:02and Protestants.
0:41:05 > 0:41:08Northern Ireland's brutal conflict had been a regular feature
0:41:08 > 0:41:12of British news bulletins for almost 30 years.
0:41:12 > 0:41:15The peace process was at a stalemate with the IRA cease-fire
0:41:15 > 0:41:18of 1994 having broken down.
0:41:18 > 0:41:23In 1997, a Labour government won a landslide election in Britain.
0:41:23 > 0:41:26The new Prime Minister was determined to give peace
0:41:26 > 0:41:27another chance.
0:41:27 > 0:41:30At the beginning, when I first came to office
0:41:30 > 0:41:33and people frankly thought Northern Ireland was a pretty hopeless case,
0:41:33 > 0:41:37and Ian Paisley at that time, you know, the view was that he would
0:41:37 > 0:41:39never be the person who would actually do the peace deal.
0:41:41 > 0:41:45A year after Blair's election victory, another attempt at peace,
0:41:45 > 0:41:48the Good Friday Agreement, was signed in Belfast between the
0:41:48 > 0:41:51British and Irish governments and the majority of Northern Ireland's
0:41:51 > 0:41:57political parties, including Sinn Fein, the IRA's political wing.
0:41:57 > 0:42:00It was another attempt at power sharing between Catholics
0:42:00 > 0:42:02and Protestants.
0:42:02 > 0:42:06Yet again, Paisley refused to have anything to do with it.
0:42:06 > 0:42:07They should be scrapped.
0:42:07 > 0:42:12The whole progress, programme should be scrapped.
0:42:13 > 0:42:16After decades of campaigning against any peace deal
0:42:16 > 0:42:18with the Irish Government or Sinn Fein,
0:42:18 > 0:42:23to outsiders, Ian Paisley appeared to be a relic of the past.
0:42:23 > 0:42:29And as long as Ian Paisley is around there will be no surrender!
0:42:29 > 0:42:30Thank you.
0:42:34 > 0:42:37When a majority of people in Northern Ireland voted to support
0:42:37 > 0:42:41the new agreement, Paisley found himself speaking for those
0:42:41 > 0:42:45who did not - Unionists who were deeply uneasy that despite
0:42:45 > 0:42:48the peace deal, the IRA was still armed.
0:42:50 > 0:42:54Paisley attacked the Good Friday Agreement at every opportunity,
0:42:54 > 0:42:58and especially those Unionist leaders who had signed it.
0:42:59 > 0:43:04Here is Mr Trimble's paper to destroy the union.
0:43:04 > 0:43:06To destroy the union.
0:43:06 > 0:43:13In 1988, he said he was prepared to break the union.
0:43:13 > 0:43:15And he has had his approval.
0:43:15 > 0:43:20That's your own document - What Choice For Ulster? by David Trimble.
0:43:20 > 0:43:23I think the DUP were being disingenuous at this time,
0:43:23 > 0:43:28that the DUP party as a whole were attacking the agreement tactically.
0:43:28 > 0:43:30Although there were denouncing it,
0:43:30 > 0:43:33in fact, all they wanted to do was use that
0:43:33 > 0:43:35as a means for weakening the Ulster Unionists
0:43:35 > 0:43:38so that they could then replace Ulster Unionism
0:43:38 > 0:43:42as the majority party within Unionism and then from that basis,
0:43:42 > 0:43:44they intended to do a deal.
0:43:45 > 0:43:49Paisley now set out to destroy his main rival
0:43:49 > 0:43:53and become the top dog in Northern Irish politics.
0:43:53 > 0:43:57At every turn, he accused Trimble of being a traitor to Unionism.
0:43:57 > 0:43:59What was more annoying was the
0:43:59 > 0:44:06way people would be organised to dog my steps and to abuse me publicly.
0:44:06 > 0:44:09CROWD SHOUTS AND JEERS
0:44:11 > 0:44:14'They'd adopted the same tactics against O'Neill and others,
0:44:14 > 0:44:18'and I knew it was being done in hope that,
0:44:18 > 0:44:21'I would then get so fed up with it that I would give up.'
0:44:21 > 0:44:24Paisley pulverised Unionism
0:44:24 > 0:44:29and the Ulster Unionist Party, which he totally detested.
0:44:29 > 0:44:32Trimble stood as an obstacle to Paisley's ultimate objective,
0:44:32 > 0:44:34which was to get to the top of the heap.
0:44:37 > 0:44:38By June 2001,
0:44:38 > 0:44:42it was clear that the political landscape in Northern Ireland was
0:44:42 > 0:44:46changing, and Ian Paisley's moment of real power was approaching.
0:44:47 > 0:44:51Tony Blair was in despair at the outcome of this election.
0:44:51 > 0:44:55He said to me, "Martin, Ian Paisley won't share power with you."
0:44:55 > 0:44:58And I said, "Well, I don't agree with you.
0:44:58 > 0:45:00"I think we can make it happen.
0:45:00 > 0:45:03"It may take a year or two to do it, but I believe we can do it."
0:45:04 > 0:45:08The leaders of Britain and Ireland now began to court Paisley and,
0:45:08 > 0:45:13to keen-eyed insiders, it seemed as if he was beginning to soften.
0:45:13 > 0:45:16The question was, would he now do what he had always
0:45:16 > 0:45:20denounced as a betrayal and make a deal with republicans?
0:45:20 > 0:45:23One of the interesting things about Ian Paisley was that,
0:45:23 > 0:45:25I mean, he was really an outsider,
0:45:25 > 0:45:28he was fighting against the Unionist establishment,
0:45:28 > 0:45:30fighting against the British Government,
0:45:30 > 0:45:34fighting obviously against Sinn Fein and republicanism.
0:45:34 > 0:45:38'Once he then became in a position where he was responsible,
0:45:38 > 0:45:42'then I think that altered his perspective.'
0:45:42 > 0:45:47'I think we can't understand the man, unless we characterise his'
0:45:47 > 0:45:52career as a constant struggle within himself between principle and power.
0:45:52 > 0:45:53'Time and again he has to decide,
0:45:53 > 0:45:56' "Am I staying with the principle,
0:45:56 > 0:45:58' "or am I following the road to power?" '
0:45:58 > 0:46:02And time and again in his career, he decides for power.
0:46:02 > 0:46:04In September 2004,
0:46:04 > 0:46:07Tony Blair called all the interested parties involved in the
0:46:07 > 0:46:09Northern Ireland peace process to
0:46:09 > 0:46:12intensive talks at Leeds Castle in Kent,
0:46:12 > 0:46:17including former implacable enemies - the DUP and Sinn Fein.
0:46:18 > 0:46:21Ian Paisley brought a large delegation,
0:46:21 > 0:46:24including his deputy Peter Robinson.
0:46:24 > 0:46:28It was at Leeds Castle that Peter Robinson took me aside and said,
0:46:28 > 0:46:30"If you're going to get somewhere here,
0:46:30 > 0:46:33"the Prime Minister is going to have to cultivate Ian Paisley,
0:46:33 > 0:46:36"get to know him, establish a relationship with him."
0:46:36 > 0:46:39So Tony Blair went to great lengths to establish this relationship.
0:46:39 > 0:46:43But when the talks began, it was clear to everyone that
0:46:43 > 0:46:45Paisley was gravely ill.
0:46:45 > 0:46:50Peace in Ireland was now hanging on the health of a 78-year-old man.
0:46:50 > 0:46:53I have my statement.
0:46:53 > 0:46:57At the time, he and his party wanted to play his illness down,
0:46:57 > 0:47:00in case it was perceived as a sign of weakness.
0:47:00 > 0:47:03Many now believe he came close to death.
0:47:04 > 0:47:06Ian Paisley said this himself to us at one stage.
0:47:06 > 0:47:09After he had this near-death experience - as he put it,
0:47:09 > 0:47:11having nearly met his maker, he actually decided
0:47:11 > 0:47:14he wanted not to be Dr No, but to be Dr Yes before he died.
0:47:14 > 0:47:17He had made a fundamental decision that he wanted to be
0:47:17 > 0:47:21part of the solution having, at the beginning, been part of the problem.
0:47:21 > 0:47:22For the next three years,
0:47:22 > 0:47:26all sides were locked in a continual round of talks.
0:47:26 > 0:47:30They flowed back and forth as the details were painstakingly thrashed
0:47:30 > 0:47:34out and continuing republican activity threatened to derail them.
0:47:36 > 0:47:37At the same time,
0:47:37 > 0:47:41Ian Paisley made several private visits to Downing Street to meet
0:47:41 > 0:47:46Tony Blair face-to-face, without any of his colleagues - alone.
0:47:46 > 0:47:48Well, I found him a fascinating personality
0:47:48 > 0:47:53and, you know, we shared a strong religious belief.
0:47:53 > 0:47:55A lot of our conversations would be about...
0:47:56 > 0:48:01..faith, actually, as much as about the politics of the situation.
0:48:01 > 0:48:03I remember him once asking me,
0:48:03 > 0:48:07"What is that God would have me do in this situation?"
0:48:07 > 0:48:09What would be his purpose?
0:48:09 > 0:48:12And I was very reluctant to answer that really, cos I thought
0:48:12 > 0:48:16that should be between him and his maker, as it were.
0:48:18 > 0:48:21I think he got to Blair, I think he got under Blair's skin.
0:48:21 > 0:48:24And of course people say, "Oh, people exploited Paisley."
0:48:24 > 0:48:26I don't know. I think when you look at the ultimate results
0:48:26 > 0:48:31and weigh them up, final analysis, I think my dad was pretty
0:48:31 > 0:48:35good at exploiting others to achieve what he needed to achieve.
0:48:35 > 0:48:38To everyone concerned, it was increasingly obvious that
0:48:38 > 0:48:42Ian Paisley had changed his traditional uncompromising stance.
0:48:42 > 0:48:45He was even now talking to leading Catholics.
0:48:47 > 0:48:49Was the prospect for him of leading
0:48:49 > 0:48:52a new Northern Ireland just too tempting?
0:48:54 > 0:48:57They had always seen him as an outsider, and therefore,
0:48:57 > 0:48:59they hadn't gone through the mindset to say,
0:48:59 > 0:49:03"He's actually top-dog in Unionist circles."
0:49:03 > 0:49:06"He is somebody who has got to be treated
0:49:06 > 0:49:11"as the putative first minister - the first minister designate."
0:49:11 > 0:49:15He'd always chuckle and say, "No, no, no, no," but it was quite
0:49:15 > 0:49:19clear that he was thinking that there might be that possibility.
0:49:20 > 0:49:25'There is such a thing as forgiveness, you know.
0:49:25 > 0:49:30'And forgiveness rests upon a rejection of your old ways,
0:49:30 > 0:49:36'and there's no doubt about it that Sinn Fein have done that.
0:49:36 > 0:49:38'I have to be honest,
0:49:38 > 0:49:41'if people repent and turn from their ways and show their repentance
0:49:41 > 0:49:45'by not going back to the old paths, then I've got to honour them.'
0:49:45 > 0:49:48We had one final meeting with the DUP where the whole thing
0:49:48 > 0:49:50looked like it was going to collapse -
0:49:50 > 0:49:53they demanded more time and we didn't think Sinn Fein or the
0:49:53 > 0:49:55Irish Government would give more time.
0:49:55 > 0:49:59And then we persuaded Ian Paisley that the only thing that would
0:49:59 > 0:50:02save this would be if he would meet Gerry Adams himself.
0:50:02 > 0:50:04And he said, "I'll think about it," and he called us
0:50:04 > 0:50:08from Heathrow on the way back to Belfast and said, "OK, I'll do it."
0:50:13 > 0:50:17An agreement was finally reached in March 2007.
0:50:17 > 0:50:20At the age of 80, Paisley had done what would have been
0:50:20 > 0:50:22unthinkable five or ten years previously,
0:50:22 > 0:50:25let alone at the beginning of his political career
0:50:25 > 0:50:29when he regularly preached against a Catholic republican conspiracy.
0:50:32 > 0:50:35He was now sitting down with the people he had previously
0:50:35 > 0:50:38branded as terrorists and murderers.
0:50:40 > 0:50:43For some of his closest followers, this was a step too far.
0:50:44 > 0:50:49It was a shock that I can hardly describe
0:50:49 > 0:50:52and we were just overcome by grief.
0:50:53 > 0:50:56I'm sure the British Government, at the end of the day,
0:50:56 > 0:50:58had a psychological profile of the man -
0:50:58 > 0:51:02they knew what he wanted and in the end they could capture him
0:51:02 > 0:51:05by luring him in, by giving him what he wanted.
0:51:05 > 0:51:07So really that was the sort of breakthrough moment
0:51:07 > 0:51:10and that was the moment, of course, the TV chose to write the obituary
0:51:10 > 0:51:13of the Troubles, that's when they decided the thing was finally over,
0:51:13 > 0:51:16cos the whole negotiation had been conducted without Paisley or Adams
0:51:16 > 0:51:19or Paisley and McGuiness actually meeting.
0:51:19 > 0:51:21So this was a really sort of remarkable moment.
0:51:21 > 0:51:24But in return for becoming First Minister
0:51:24 > 0:51:26of a new Northern Ireland devolved government,
0:51:26 > 0:51:30Ian Paisley would have to share power with his Deputy,
0:51:30 > 0:51:35Martin McGuinness, a former leader of the IRA and convicted terrorist.
0:51:35 > 0:51:36To the surprise of many,
0:51:36 > 0:51:41the former bitter enemies appeared to get on rather well.
0:51:41 > 0:51:44The local press named them "The Chuckle Brothers".
0:51:44 > 0:51:48No change, not an inch and no surrender.
0:51:48 > 0:51:49THEY LAUGH
0:51:49 > 0:51:54I think that people were very pleased to know that Ian Paisley
0:51:54 > 0:51:58and I were capable of having a smile or a laugh together
0:51:58 > 0:52:01and that indicated to the community as a whole that things
0:52:01 > 0:52:04had definitely changed. I mean, people would have thought
0:52:04 > 0:52:09we would have been incapable of having a good, cordial,
0:52:09 > 0:52:13even friendly relationship. But I think we confounded all of them.
0:52:13 > 0:52:17I remember hearing an interview in which an interviewer said to him
0:52:17 > 0:52:20all the things that he had said about Martin McGuinness
0:52:20 > 0:52:24and what he done and what he was involved in and really, you know,
0:52:24 > 0:52:26painted the black picture.
0:52:26 > 0:52:29"And here you are about to power-share with him.
0:52:29 > 0:52:31"Do you believe that's the will of God?"
0:52:31 > 0:52:36And I'll never forget Dr Paisley's response.
0:52:36 > 0:52:40He said, "I hope so."
0:52:43 > 0:52:49And I knew from that one little statement that even he could not say,
0:52:49 > 0:52:52"I believe this is the will of God."
0:52:53 > 0:52:55For the first time in his life,
0:52:55 > 0:52:59Ian Paisley's flock did not follow where he led.
0:52:59 > 0:53:02The man who had made a career out of shaming apostates
0:53:02 > 0:53:07and turncoats was now himself accused of betrayal.
0:53:07 > 0:53:11The Free Presbyterian Church, which he had founded and led
0:53:11 > 0:53:15for over five decades, rejected him.
0:53:15 > 0:53:19The personal pain it caused him and his wife Eileen was made clear
0:53:19 > 0:53:23in the last major television interviews they gave.
0:53:23 > 0:53:27Well, it was hurtful that that was the way they thought
0:53:27 > 0:53:29they would treat us
0:53:29 > 0:53:31and they did that.
0:53:31 > 0:53:36And they will have to answer to the people
0:53:36 > 0:53:41and they will also have to answer to God at the end of the day.
0:53:41 > 0:53:44Our hearts were all broken for Ian,
0:53:44 > 0:53:50the children and myself as well
0:53:50 > 0:53:55and I felt he had been deeply wounded in the house of his friends
0:53:55 > 0:54:00and I just felt that it was really iniquitous of them
0:54:00 > 0:54:03and a really dreadful, hurtful,
0:54:03 > 0:54:07nasty, ungodly, unchristian thing to do.
0:54:07 > 0:54:11In politics, too, there now seemed to be enemies within.
0:54:11 > 0:54:14The Democratic Unionist Party had allowed their iconic leader
0:54:14 > 0:54:16to bring them into government,
0:54:16 > 0:54:20trading on his unrivalled authority within Unionism to deliver a deal.
0:54:20 > 0:54:24But a year after power-sharing was achieved, in 2008,
0:54:24 > 0:54:28senior party members felt it was time for him to step down.
0:54:28 > 0:54:32Paisley and his family felt betrayed.
0:54:32 > 0:54:35In his final interview, he referred to his erstwhile friend
0:54:35 > 0:54:39and successor, Peter Robinson, using Biblical language.
0:54:40 > 0:54:45For once we're seeing the true nature of the beast,
0:54:45 > 0:54:51that there was a beast here who was prepared to go forward...
0:54:51 > 0:54:54to the destruction of the party.
0:54:54 > 0:54:59Scriptures tell us that friends, people,
0:54:59 > 0:55:04so-called friends are probably secret enemies.
0:55:04 > 0:55:06Well, I think they assassinated him
0:55:06 > 0:55:11and by their words and by their deeds
0:55:11 > 0:55:16and by the way they treated him and I think they treated him shamefully.
0:55:18 > 0:55:21Ian Paisley was a dominant force in British politics
0:55:21 > 0:55:24for more than half a century.
0:55:24 > 0:55:27But his funeral was private, conducted at his home
0:55:27 > 0:55:30and attended only by close family.
0:55:30 > 0:55:35It would be the final contrast in an unpredictable life story.
0:55:35 > 0:55:40For many, the biggest contrast of all was that one man
0:55:40 > 0:55:45could have done so much to help cause and conclude a conflict.
0:55:45 > 0:55:48Paisley shaped Northern Ireland enormously
0:55:48 > 0:55:50over the last 40, 50 years.
0:55:50 > 0:55:53Without Paisley, Northern Ireland would be a very different place.
0:55:53 > 0:55:56It might well have been a more peaceful place.
0:55:58 > 0:56:00I think Ian Paisley did the deal in the end, because he genuinely
0:56:00 > 0:56:05believed that if the IRA were prepared to come to a definitive end
0:56:05 > 0:56:09to their use of violence as a tactic in the struggle, then he had to
0:56:09 > 0:56:14respond that that was his duty, that was the will of the people.
0:56:14 > 0:56:20Genuinely within himself, he felt that his lifelong opponents
0:56:20 > 0:56:24had crossed the Rubicon and therefore he should cross it, too.
0:56:24 > 0:56:27Because Captain O'Neill...
0:56:27 > 0:56:31'I believe that the line I took was a consistent Unionist line.
0:56:31 > 0:56:34'I believe that I never hid'
0:56:34 > 0:56:37my light under a bushel. People knew what I was.
0:56:37 > 0:56:39When you asked, "Who was Ian Paisley?"
0:56:39 > 0:56:42"Oh, that guy!" They'll tell you all about him.
0:56:42 > 0:56:45A deeply divisive figure in life,
0:56:45 > 0:56:48Ian Paisley is likely to remain so in death.
0:56:48 > 0:56:50The question for history will be
0:56:50 > 0:56:55whether his final achievement outweighed what came before.
0:56:55 > 0:56:57There will be those historians who say that he's a great man
0:56:57 > 0:57:01because he was capable of putting
0:57:01 > 0:57:06his whole 50-year past behind him
0:57:06 > 0:57:11and embraced his enemy. That would be a benevolent view of history.
0:57:11 > 0:57:14The cynical view would be
0:57:14 > 0:57:19here is a man who accused all his political enemies of apostasy.
0:57:19 > 0:57:25And he himself turns out to be the greatest apostate or turncoat
0:57:25 > 0:57:28since the Emperor Julian.
0:57:29 > 0:57:31That's the story.
0:57:32 > 0:57:34As with other historical figures
0:57:34 > 0:57:36that have made similar types of journey,
0:57:36 > 0:57:40he will be remembered ultimately for the peace and not the schism,
0:57:40 > 0:57:43which I think is to his credit and also what he deserves.
0:57:43 > 0:57:46I am not infallible,
0:57:46 > 0:57:48I never claimed to the Pope.
0:57:48 > 0:57:50I just was just Ian Paisley,
0:57:50 > 0:57:53an Ulsterman.
0:57:53 > 0:57:56And I look back,
0:57:56 > 0:57:58I have regrets.
0:57:58 > 0:58:03But I have also rejoicing in my heart
0:58:03 > 0:58:05that I kept the faith.