Party versus order: Ulster Unionism and the Flags and Emblems Act

Abstract

The Hags and Emblems Act has been seen as symbolising the sectarian and anti‐nationalist essence of the Northern Ireland ‘police state’. In fact the Act was introduced against the advice of the Inspector General of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. The pressure for it came from the fears of Sir Basil Brooke's government that an ‘anti‐appeasement’ campaign by loyalist ultras was threatening Unionist party hegemony in Protestant politics. The basis for the campaign was the fact that Brooke and his Minister of Home Affairs, Brian Maginess, had attempted to accommodate the new challenges of a welfare state and an international environment seen as more sympathetic to anti‐partitionism.