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Chiffon’s mission was to get the IRA to end its violent campaign and embrace the political process that eventually led to the historic Good Friday Agreement 25 years ago. Taylor recounts how Oatley readily admitted his rule-breaking to his political masters: it was, Oatley said, “very naughty of me”, but he was less than a week from retirement. When the second infraction was discovered, Robert felt obliged to resign from MI5. Who would send their kids out to a monster like that? But we did’: Parents of Coleraine abuse victim speak out
Big Night of Musicals 2023 By the National Lottery Big Night of Musicals 2023 by the National Lottery 7.50pm, BBC One Usual UK delivery timescale (excluding custom prints) is between 5 and 7 working days from the date of dispatch. Please allow up to 14 working days for delivery. For custom print delivery pricing and timescales see below. As the government’s national archive for England, Wales and the United Kingdom, The National Archives hold over 1,000 years of the nation’s records for everyone to discover and use.In this compelling account, the author and documentary-maker describes how decades of covert communications between the British government and the IRA eased the path to the Good Friday agreement – helped by an unlikely hero . . . A deeply researched and highly readable book
A gripping exploration of how MI5 and MI6 worked for a ceasefire with the IRA – and how one meeting changed everything
Boris Johnson said that the pandemic was “nature’s way of dealing with old people”, the Covid inquiry was told yesterday as his former aide laid bare the chaos and toxic in-fighting at the heart of government. Dominic Cummings said that “pretty much everyone” referred to the former prime minister... Boris Johnson said that the pandemic was “nature’s way of dealing with old people”, the Covid inquiry was told yesterday as his former aide laid bare the chaos and toxic in-fighting at the heart of government. Dominic Cummings said that “pretty much everyone” referred to the former prime minister... Boris Johnson said that the pandemic was “nature’s way of dealing with old people”, the Covid inquiry was told yesterday as his... The Irish have an old saying that “When the big man falls in battle, the fight rarely continue s.” As the IRA was never defeated militarily, it is perhaps unsurprising that the peace and stability of Northern Ireland are still threatened by dissident republicans determined to achieve a united Ireland through force of arms. Pivotal to the story of Operation Chiffon was the promise “Robert” made to the IRA’s high command: “The final solution [to your ‘armed struggle’] is union. It is going to happen anyway. The historical train — Europe — determines that. We are committed to Europe. Unionists will have to change. This island will be as one. ” Ireland is still divided , and Brexit derailed the “historical train” of European integration with the UK, ensuring that the Belfast Agreement can be viewed, twenty-five years on, not as a denouement to “the Trouble s” , but rather as a crucial punctuation mark in the history of contemporary Ireland.
By that time, however, McGuinness had passed a historic message to Robert, via Duddy, in which he said: “The conflict is over, but we need your advice on how to bring it to a close.” For their part, the British, while stressing that there could be no withdrawal without the consent of the majority of people in Northern Ireland, would use deliberately vague language. They told the IRA that they were prepared to discuss “structures of disengagement”, for example, while withholding their reservations about the century in which they believed that might happen. Nobody could foresee that 23 years later the train would hit the buffers of Brexit The MI5 spy tells Taylor the goal was ultimately to unify Ireland. The exact words were noted by Mr Kelly, with Robert saying: “The final solution is union. It is going to happen anyway. The historical train, Europe, determines that. Unionists will have to change. This island will be as one.”Taylor is the doyen of authorities on Northern Ireland, having spent fifty years reporting on the Province. Trusted by all sides in the conflict as an objective journalist, Taylor succeeded in gaining an entrée into each sectarian camp, acquiring unique access to leading political and paramilitary figures. With such impeccable sources, Taylor’s oeuvre has been rich and unique. In addition to five works on Irish and international terrorism, Taylor is author of the critically acclaimed Ulster trilogy Brits , Provos and Loyalists . Notably, Operation Chiffon closes the circle on this series of monographs, concomitantly filling a lacuna in the history of Northern Irish affairs. The role of secret intelligence, as Sir Alexander Cadogan (one-time Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office) complained, was the “missing dimension of most diplomatic history ”. Tellingly, it was the absence of official documentation, interviews or public disclosure surrounding Operation Chiffon that compelled “Robert ”, despite the restraints of the Official Secrets Act, to tell his story. As he confessed to the author, “I’d like what I did to be remembered. ”
Premiership Rugby Union: Saracens v Harlequins, 2.30pm, ITV1/BT Sport 1 At Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. London Irish v Northampton Saints is at 5.15pm on BT Sport 1. On the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, Peter Taylor tells for the first time the gripping story of Operation Chiffon, the top-secret intelligence operation that helped bring peace to Ireland. In light of how high the human and political stakes were , it is unsurprising to discover that Operation Chiffon is a compelling, exhilarating historical account. A significant journalistic “scoop” for the author, it is also an authoritative, scholarly, insightful and balanced treatment of one of the most extraordinary intelligence cases of modern times. Setting the operation and its antecedents in their proper historical context, Taylor supplies his readership with a kaleidoscope of detail, vignettes and personal recollections pertaining to the epoch in question. Peter Matthew Hillsman Taylor was a U.S. author and writer. Considered to be one of the finest American short story writers, Taylor's fictional milieu is the urban South. His characters, usually middle or upper class people, often are living in a time of change and struggle to discover and define their roles in society. Robert explains how he spent hours soul-searching about whether to meet the IRA delegation at peace-builder Brendan Duddy’s home in Derry.
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David Hoey: It would be an act of incredible foolishness for DUP to accept any ‘promise’ of legislation on the Union from this Conservative government Northern Ireland NI braced for more heavy downpours which could thwart major clean up operation following severe flooding Award-winning BBC journalist Peter Taylor reveals the extraordinary story of how a former undercover MI5 officer put his life and career on the line to encourage the IRA to end its violent campaign and embrace politics.
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