T4 Northern Ireland

Question 1

Thatcher and the Troubles

Answer 1

• Thatcher had strong Unionist sympathies, which is unsurprising given her general right wing/traditionalist leanings.
• As a conviction politician, she was also fundamentally against any hint of ‘giving in to terrorism’.
• Thatcher was quickly embroiled in the campaign of IRA prisoners held in the H block of the Maze
  Prison in Belfast, who wanted to be treated as political prisoners.
• Hunger strikes, led by Bobby Sands, began in 1980 as a protest.
• The hunger strikes gained a lot of media attention, especially as Sands was successful in winning
  a by-election of a constituency in South Tyrone.
• Sands and nine other IRA prisoners died during the hunger strikes, becoming martyrs for the
  Republican movement.
• Hunger strikes were called off in 1981, which Thatcher claimed as a victory since their main
  objective of Special Category status for IRA prisoners was not granted – however the media
  attention and sympathy gained by the IRA could be argued to be more significant.
• Electoral successes for Republicans meant that leaders like Gerry Adams (President of Sinn Fein)
  saw the benefit of using a dual approach - ‘the ballot box and the gun’.
• In 1984 the IRA exploded a bomb in the Grand Hotel in Brighton where Thatcher and fellow
  Conservatives were staying during the Conservative Party conference.
• Some ministers such as Norman Tebbit were injured but Thatcher was unhurt (5 people were
  killed).
• Thatcher gave a defiant speech at the conference the next morning, which gained her popularity
• In 1985 an Anglo-Irish Agreement was signed, which established intergovernmental cooperation
  between the Irish Republic and the UK.
• The Conservatives hoped this would improve security, and encourage moderate nationalists to
  oppose Sinn Fein.
• However – Republicans opposed the agreement because it confirmed N. Ireland as part of the UK
• Unionists were also angered, as the agreement gave the Irish Republic government an advisory
  role in Northern Ireland – prompting Paisley’s famous ‘Never!’ speech, and the establishment of
  a new Unionist paramilitary organisation, Ulster Resistance.
• The cycle of atrocities continued.