John Hume

The SDLP leader's 'three-stranded' analysis, relationships within Northern Ireland, between north and south, and between Britain and Ireland, became the architecture of the 1998 agreement. Hume's secret talks with Gerry Adams from 1988, which drew heavy criticism at the time, helped bring Sinn Féin towards politics, and his contacts in Washington drew in American influence. He shared the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize with David Trimble. His party paid electorally as Sinn Féin overtook it.