Tories cash in on Anglo-Irish accord
mount a right wing challenge to Ron Todd's position as general secretary.
Nicholson has used his position on the appointments committee to install hard rightwingers into key non-elected regional secretary positions as they have become vacant. This has led to bitter clashes with Todd in at least two regions: region two (London) and region five (Midlands). The regional. secretaries are extremely influential and they administer the elections and arrange the counting of votes.
Nicholson's objective was to ANGLO-IRISH relations have been under considerable strain over the past few months. The Irish government has felt it necessary to object to some of the more blatant imperialist injustices perpetrated by the British government and state.
But are recent events an obstacle to the process started by the Anglo-Irish accord, or are they, simply, its logical outcome? Let's re-cap some of the events: • On 25 January Attorney General Sir Patrick Mayhew announced in the house of commons that, in the interests of 'national security', no prosecutions would arise from the Stalker-Sampson investigations into the alleged RUC shoot-to-kill policy. This was despite the fact that the report contained evidence of attempts to pervert the course of justice, perjury and obstruction. • On 28 January, the three appeal court judges in the 'Birmingham six' case delivered their judgement. There was no police conspiracy, there were no beatings, former Birmingham police officers Joyce Lynass and Tom Clarke are liars and home office forensic scientist Frank Skuse was a competent scientist and a man of integrity. In short, the 1975 convictions were 'safe and satisfactory' • On 16 February it was announced that the prevention
consolidate his right wing control of the executive and to marginalise Todd whom he considers too left wing.
The TGWU has in most respects been a part of the 'new realist' project. Todd intervened along with Bill Jordan to create the basis for the recent Ford sell-out, for example. However, it has not been consistent enough or right wing enough for Nicholson. Had he been successful he would have taken the union to a position alongside the AEU or even the EETPU on the extreme right of the TUC.
It is not yet clear how much Shoot-to-kill, Birmingham six, PTA . . . Ex-deputy chief constable John Śtalker of terrorism act (PTA) is to become permanent. The decision was leaked earlier but was denied by 'Northern Ireland' Secretary Tom King just before a meeting of the Anglo-Irish conference in Belfast. That night it was confirmed in the house of lords. • On 21 February Aiden McAnespie from Aughnacloy was shot in the back by a bullet fired from a British army checkpoint near his home. • On 23 February Mrs Thatcher announced that the Anglo-Irish accord did not give the twenty-six county authorities the right to investigate border shootings. On the same day it was also made public that the only British soldier to be convicted of murder since the troops went in in 1969 was released
the union will move to the left in the wake of this result. But it is clear that Nicholson's attempts to move it further to the right have been roundly defeated. The result is also a victory for Toda who is now released from right wing pressure and free to exert his own direction on the union.
Kinnock has expressed confidence that the election result will not change the relationship between the TGWU and his project for the Labour Party. He is probably right. The TGWU under the new executive is likely to support Kinnock on most occasions. last year after serving only two years of a life sentence.
These events have provoked public outrage in Britain and throughout the thirty-two counties. The anger has spread through all levels of Irish society including the ruling Fianna Fail party.
Is the British government trying to goad Dublin into Peter ditching the Anglo-Irish accord as some politicians in Ireland now suspect? Alternatively, is Thatcher simply confident that Haughey will be willing to swallow any insult to the Irish people, any affront and injustice, however great? In other words is the British government simply cashing in on the Anglo-Irish accord?
Those who believe that the British government is trying to wreck the accord don't have to look far for circumstantial evidence. Since the accord was signed the British government has shown itself to be totally unwilling to budge on any significant issue. However, events since January have left even Haughey gasping for breath at the sheer ruthlessness and insensitivity to Irish feelings of the British establishment.
Ardent supporters of the Anglo-Irish accord inside Fianna Fail are now either shell-shocked or extremely angry. Whether their anger is controllable is yet to be seen. Limerick Fianna Fail TD (MP) Willie O'Dea reacted to the
The general secretary's position is very powerful if it is not under threat and the executive is limited in the influence it can exert. It does not, for example, control the TGWU block vote at Labour Party conferences. Here decisions are taken by the conference delegation which has often been well to the right of the national executive. The election result should therefore be understood much more as a defeat for the right than a victory for the left • ALAN THORNETT 'Birmingham six' announcement with the words, 'I wouldn't now extradite a cat to Britain'. (Irish Post 6/2/88.)
More telling perhaps was the reaction of former Irish foreign minister Peter Barry to the decision not to prosecute over the Stalker-Sampson allegations. Mr Barry, who was central to the negotiation of the accord, was quoted in the Guardian (27/1/88) as saying, 'In matters like this the British suit themselves. We should have known that after so many hundreds of years'.
Urgent meetings of the Anglo-Irish conference were called in late January after the attorney general's announcement. However, even while such meetings were taking place, the situation was becoming more and more volatile.
At the time of writing, the murder of Aiden McAnespie and the news of the early release of another British murderer has led to yet another emergency meeting of British and Irish ministers.
Readers of this magazine and its predecessors will know that contributors have consistently argued that the Anglo-Irish accord represented a tactical move by the British state to draw the twenty-six county government into jointly organising anti-republican offensives. We have always argued against those who saw it as a step forward for the SOCIALIST OUTLOOK not March/April 1988
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