John Hume and Gerry Adams
The late Foyle MP was demoralised by criticism from within the ranks of his own party, alongside the apparent endless cycle of violence that gripped the north in the early 1990s, according to The Persuader by Stephen Walker.
The former BBC political correspondent’s book charts the founding member of the SDLP’s personal and political life, from his Derry childhood through to his central role in securing peace.
John Hume became leader of the SDLP in 1979, succeeding Gerry Fitt. He led the party until 2001, when he was succeeded by his former aide and confidante Mark Durkan.
The father-of-five was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2015, though is said to have displayed symptoms much earlier. He died in August 2020, aged 83.
The book’s prologue recalls how in February 1992, several years after the Hume-Adams dialogue had begun, the then MP and MEP was “exhausted, fed-up and highly stressed”.
“As leader of the SDLP, he was particularly annoyed with the back-biting and criticism that was coming from within his own party,” the book states.
Mr Hume’s wife Pat summoned his then assistant Mr Durkan to the couple’s Derry home one Saturday morning where “it was clear all was not well”.
“He had simply had enough of being SDLP leader,” it says.
“He was battered by the constant criticism, and he was convinced some of his colleagues would not support him in a another round of all-party talks.”
The incumbent told the man who would succeed him some nine years later that his reign as leader was over and that Mr Durkan would need to be ready to “fill his shoes and become the new Foyle MP”.
Mr Hume had even prepared a two-page resignation statement.
However, after Mr Durkan employed some “John Hume tactics”, including the advice that “you don’t react to reaction”, the then 54-year-old leader said he’d think about things over the weekend.
John Hume and US Senator Ted Kennedy during his visit to Derry’s Bogside in 1998
“Sometimes the persuaders need to be persuaded too,” the book notes of Mr Durkan’s intervention.
The Persuader also addresses the vilification of John Hume by sections of the Dublin-based media in the early 1990s, in particular the Irish Independent and Sunday Independent.
“Contributors from both papers repeatedly questioned whether his ongoing dialogue with the Sinn Féin president would lead anywhere,” the book recalls.
“Regular headlines in the Sunday Independent were cutting and cartoons often derided the SDLP MP for associating with Adams.”
Mr Durkan tells the author “it was awful stuff”.
“John found it hard to take. Pat was really distressed,” the former deputy first minister says.
* The Persuader by Stephen Walker is published by Gill.
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