Bono pays tribute to ‘great servant’ John Hume who ‘loved his town so well’

The U2-frontman said that in the tortuous years leading up to the peace accord the people of Ireland ‘were looking for joy and heard it in the song of a man who “loved his town so well” and his missus even more’.

A video message from the singer-songwriter was played at the John and Pat Hume Foundation ‘Make Hope and History Rhyme’ event in the Guildhall on Tuesday, where the key note address was delivered by former US President Bill Clinton.

Bono, who famously raised John Hume’s and David Trimble’s arms aloft at a pro-GFA campaign rally in the run up to the 1998 referendum, said: “We were looking for a giant and found the man who made all our lives bigger. We were looking for some super powers and found some clarity of thought, kindness and persistence.

"We were looking for revolution and found it in parish halls with tea and biscuits and late night meetings under fluorescence. We were looking for a negotiator who understood that no one wins unless everyone loses something and that peace is the only victory.

"We were looking for joy and heard it in the song of a man who ‘loved his town so well’ and his missus even more. We were looking for a great leader and found a great servant. We found John Hume.”

Watching the message relayed by video in the Guildhall were David Trimble’s wife Daphne and son Nicholas, who heard their late loved one described as ‘a man with faith in the future’.

Bono, an avowed Christian, observed that Mr. Trimble’s peace-making had been informed by his Presbyterianism.

The U2 star observed that ‘the man who celebrated the GFA by going for a quiet meal with his family in a fish restaurant was not just a product of Presbyterianism, he was an expression of it’.

"In the Presbyterian tradition the congregation stands when the Bible is brought in. Words matter. They really matter. Not for them the smells and bells and very few symbols because symbols matter too.

“David Trimble's religion was defined by a reverence for education, for intellectual rigour and an unbending, deep sense of moral duty. A man with a quick temper but an even quicker intellect, a brilliant lawyer, who turned out when it really mattered to be a brilliant listener as well.”

Bono described the former UUP leader as someone who was willing to compromise.

"A politician who was seen as a hard liner who, when the hard moment came, made the hard choice for peace. A leader, whose tradition has often said no, who understood the painful but vital work of ensuring that the tradition could say yes.

"Shy, bookish, a little awkward but courage brings its own charisma, David Trimble, in the end, despite the caricature common on this island showed his southerners that the Presbyterians can smile and even laugh, as long as it doesn’t lead to dancing,” he joked.

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