Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams once suggested to David Trimble they make an effort to get to know and understand each other better. However, the former unionist leader rebuffed the notion, a BBC film revealed last night.
In a film profile of Mr Trimble which coincides with the formal announcement of his elevation to the House of Lords, he described Mr Adams's suggestion. "He developed this theme to the point where it was even suggested we go away at weekends together, at which point (my) mind was certainly boggling," he says.
"I listened to this being said, at great length, and then leaned over towards Mr McGuinness and I said: 'You know Martin, just because you get to know someone better, it doesn't mean you like them any more'."
David Trimble - Out in the Cold, which was broadcast last night, confirmed the former First Minister's view of his own and the UUP's contribution to the peace process. "I think I can say that without me we would not have made as much progress as we did . . . Of course others contributed as well but I think there were points at which certainly the contribution of the Ulster Unionist Party and arguably my own personal contribution were crucial."
Mr Trimble defended the Belfast Agreement which he said at the time would underpin the Union. "That agreement is the best agreement that unionists have ever had," he said.
When he was asked if Downing Street had deceived him, he simply replied: "You might say that, I couldn't possibly comment."
Both Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern testify to his personality and his reputation for blunt speaking.
The prime minister said: "I don't think even David's closest friends would say he's always easy to deal with, he isn't. He can be extremely, well, feisty is perhaps the politest way of putting it."
The Taoiseach chose more direct language to describe the Trimble temper. "David was not the sort of guy who would sit there, holding the temper inside himself. He did what is probably correct to do - he let fly."
Daphne Trimble offered her view of her husband. "David is a buttoned-up sort of person. He wouldn't find it easy to express emotions in words."
Nonetheless Mr Blair concedes the scale of the Trimble contribution to progress in the late 1990s and up until the UUP leader lost his Westminster seat at the 2005 general election.
"For David to enter talks with Sinn Féin, now seems quite a minimal move, but at the time it was an extraordinary and fundamentally important change," he said.