The British State and the Rise of the IRA, 1969–71: The View from the Conway Hotel

Abstract

The availability under the Thirty Year Rule of British and Stormont government papers for the early stages of the Troubles has made it possible for existing analyses of the role of key actors to be reassessed. This article uses the reports of successive UK Representatives to cast new light on the nature of British policy in the 1969–71 period. It argues that a view of the dynamics of the conflict as between an entrenched and discriminatory majority and an oppressed minority led to an underestimation of the depth of Protestant fears and the deepening of the regime's legitimacy crisis with its own supporters. The result was persistence with a policy that achieved the worst of both worlds: a regime incapable of stabilising itself and an increasingly militant and radicalised Catholic population.

Notes

1. National Archives (NA), PREM15/782, Minute of Prime Minister to Chairman of Conservative Party on relations with the Ulster Unionist Party, 14 August 1972.

2. NA, Cab 164/877, Burke Trend Memorandum for the Prime Minister, 20 June 1970.

3. NA, Northern Ireland Office (NIO), CJ3/98, Note by Philip Woodfield to Sir Philip Allen, Home Office, 5 January 1971.

4. NA, NIO, CJ3/18, UK Representative in Belfast (UKRB), ‘Situation Report’ 13 September 1969.

5. NA, NIO, CJ3/18, UKRB, Final Dispatch from Oliver Wright, 6 March 1970.

6. NA, NIO, CJ3/18, UKRB, Letter from Oliver Wright to James Callaghan, n.d., but September 1969.

7. NA, NIO, CJ3/18, UKRB, Situation Report, 4 September 1969.

8. NA, NIO, CJ3/18, UKRB, Final Dispatch from Oliver Wright, 6 March 1970.

9. NA, NIO, CJ3/18, UKRB, Letter from Oliver Wright to Neil Cairncross, Home Office, 15 October 1969.

10. NA, NIO, CJ3/18, UKRB, Ronald Burroughs to Neil Cairncross, Home Office, 19 June 1970.

11. Ibid.

12. NA, NIO, CJ3/18, UKRB, CJ3/98, Record of meeting with Larne Unionists, 11 December 1970.

13. NA, NIO, CJ3/18, UKRB, Letter from Ronald Burroughs to Philip Woodfield, Home Office, 8 October 1970.

14. NA, NIO, CJ3/98, UKRB, Letter from Ronald Burroughs to Philip Woodfield, Home Office, 8 December 1970.

15. NA, NIO, CJ3/98, Note by Philip Woodfield for Sir Philip Allen, 5 January 1971.

16. At his first meeting in Downing Street after becoming Prime Minister Faulkner was informed by Heath that the British government did not want to play the role of ‘Big Brother’ pushing Stormont around: (Faulkner, 1978: 92).

17. NA, PREM15/476, Telegram from UK Representative to Home Office, n.d.

18. NA, NIO, CJ3/98, UKRB, Final Report of Ronald Burroughs for Home Secretary, 14 April 1971.

19. NA, NIO, CJ3/98, UKRB, First Report of Howard Smith to Home Secretary, 10 June 1971.