David Trimble, the Northern Irish politician is the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party and the former First Minister of Northern Ireland. Born in 1944 and educated in Bangor at Queen's University, Belfast, he shared Nobel Peace Prize with John Hume of the Social Democratic and Labour Party in 1998.
Trimble was elected as a member of Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party to the Northern Ireland Convention in 1975. Later when the party collapsed, he joined the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) in 1978 and became the Party Secretary.
Trimble quite surprisingly was elected leader of the UUP in 1995, defeating John Taylor. It is believed that his election was influenced by his participation in the controversial Orange Order. Again he was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly and became First Minister of Northern Ireland.
However, things started getting difficult for him when in 2000 he was forced to sustain Sinn Féin members of the assembly from attending cross-border ministerial meetings with their counterparts held in the Republic of Ireland.