Glastonbury vibes as Good Friday Agreement band gets back together

Tony Blair, Bill Clinton and Bertie Ahern opened the conference on day one with reflection on the peace deal.

It was unofficially billed as getting the band back together - this was Glastonbury for political nerds.

Five presidents, two prime ministers, three taoisigh (Irish prime ministers) and ten Northern Ireland party leaders, past and present.

Joined by two NI secretaries of state then and now, and one former US secretary of state for good measure.

On one site over three days. All that was missing was the mud.

That is until day two, when it was thrown by an unlikely headline act not renowned for his public performances.

More about Chris Heaton-Harris in a moment but first let's hear it for Senator George Mitchell, whose first public speech in three years stole the show.

George Mitchell spoke about the political '100 per centers' who are incapable of compromise

"Masterclass," beamed DUP MP Ian Paisley Jr, whose very appearance at this Good Friday Agreement love-in - representing a party which campaigned against the deal 25 years ago - seemed to annoy half the audience.

But hang on. Wasn't he one of those Senator Mitchell had most in mind when he took aim at "the 100 percenters"?

Those party members he said were incapable of compromise?

Mr Paisley really didn't think so.

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• As it happened: Three days of events marking the Good Friday Agreement

"We're in a bit of a bubble here," he said (an understatement), adding: "Get out into the real world, the lanes and byways of rural Ulster, and you'll get a very different message."

This is the man who was first out of the DUP blocks to say his gut feeling was the Windsor Framework did not "cut the mustard".

And yet, live on stage at the event dubbed Agreement 25, he encored that "these institutions could be the only way to preserve the Union".

Day two's surprise hit

Which brings us to the surprise hit of day two - Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris.

This is someone who doesn't always reach the intended notes but, at the Whitla Hall, he signalled an entire new direction telling the DUP that keeping the Stormont institutions down was "the single biggest threat to the Union" and that "real leadership means knowing when to say yes".

The DUP critics were unimpressed.

"Disgraceful comments" said Lord Dodds, while Gavin Robinson described it as "more akin to a speech by a clueless Irish-American congressman."

"The great and the good can lecture us all they want for a cheap round of applause but it won't change the political reality," said party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson.

Read more about 25 years of the Good Friday Agreement

• EXPLAINER: What is the agreement?

• ANALYSIS: Is it still fit for purpose?

• REFLECTION: The 'bitter' price of peace

The listening Jamie Bryson tweeted that Mr Heaton-Harris was "the most hostile SoS (secretary of state) unionism has experienced in decades".

If Ian Paisley Jr's attendance was surprising Mr Bryson's was off the scale.

He's previously dismissed the Good Friday Agreement as "a surrender to IRA terrorism".

Loyalist campaigner Jamie Bryson was a surprise attendee at the QUB 25 Agreement event

He was a late addition to the bill after a request from an outside source.

At first organisers were reluctant since he's launched outspoken attacks on many of those present - including some of the organisers.

After receiving assurances about his behaviour, they relented - the theory being he was better inside the tent looking out than outside looking in.

Except my source used a word ruder than "looking".

His reward was meetings with the former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Simon Hoare MP, chairman of Westminster's Northern Ireland Affairs committee.

Special guest headliner?

No credible festival goes by without an unannounced mystery guest.

Political rock stars don't come much bigger than Boris Johnson and for hours on Wednesday rumours swept the site he was on his way.

He was, but not to Queen's. He and his successor Liz Truss had to make do with the after party at Hillsborough.

Reports that Tony Blair would stay away if they attended proved groundless.

It's highly unlikely such a gig will ever be staged again.

Former political leaders of the peace deal all smiles in Belfast

Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and George Mitchell have surely reworked their Good Friday Greatest Hits for the final time. Even if nobody does it better.

"It's like the final Pink Floyd gig except the band still like each other," said one Queen's luminary.

The university is delighted with itself even if the dream of bagging headline act President Joe Biden didn't quite happen.

The gig of the century cost Queen's a cool quarter of a million pounds.

A gala dinner featuring the Clinton's raised £550,000 with one donor contributing £250,000.

Peace comes at a price and many don't mind paying handsomely.