Peter Hain, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

Valuing the Union

Bibliographic Data

ID12112331
AuthorsP Dixon (0000-0003-1744-8963, Kingston University, corresponding author)
Year2006
Volume21
Issue2
Pages113-136
Publication date2006-05-30
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueIrish Political Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0790-7184 • E-ISSN: 1743-9078
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/07907180600707474
OpenAlexW2007460571
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited7

In this article, it is argued that Peter Hain is the most partisan Secretary of State for Northern Ireland appointed since the post was established in 1972. Peter Hain’s attitude towards Northern Ireland has echoed that of Sinn Fein’s republicanism. He has been active on Irish issues since 1972 and since at least the mid‐1970s up until the mid‐1990s he was a consistent supporter and campaigner for ‘British’ withdrawal from Northern Ireland. Peter Hain’s republican sympathies have placed him outside the mainstream of British Labour party thinking, which has traditionally been sympathetic towards Irish nationalism. This casts doubt on his claim that he values the Union. The 14 Secretaries of State for Northern Ireland appointed prior to Hain had little track record on Irish issues, and this perception of ‘neutrality’ enabled them to play more of a mediating role between the contending parties. Peter Hain’s appointment is, therefore, a departure from precedent. This article concludes by considering three different explanations as to why he was appointed. First, was his appointment part of the choreography of the peace process, in which Sinn Fein got a republican Secretary of State in return for the IRA standing down? Second, was Hain’s appointment a deliberate, symbolic and tactical move by Tony Blair to put pressure on the Democratic Unionist Party to negotiate seriously a new, devolved assembly or face direct rule with an increasingly green tinge? Third, was the Prime Minister largely unaware of Hain’s republican record when he appointed him to the post of Secretary of State for Northern Ireland? Therefore, was the appointment a blunder that could destabilise the search for a devolved, power‐sharing settlement

Ethnology · Irish · Nationalism · Negotiation · Neutrality · Northern ireland · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Supporter · History · Irish and British Studies · Law · Philosophy · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Scottish History and National Identity

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