Atkins deserts his post
George Gale
Mrs Thatcher is not being well-served by the Northern Ireland Secretary, Mr Humphrey Atkins. Neither is Northern Ireland. Come to that, none of us is: his flight from responsibility is a national as well as a political disgrace. While he has been holidaying in Tunisia, the United States suspended the supply of weapons to the Royal Ulster Constabulary: an appalling snub to that beleaguered force and a sop, thrown cynically to them by President Carter, to the increasingly noisy Irish lobby. Atkins could argue that this move was unexpected, and that it was merely unfortunate that it happened when he was on holiday. This argument, or excuse, will not exculpate him for his absence from his post when Governor Hugh Carey announced his proposal for talks in New York with Atkins and Ireland's Foreign Minister, Mr Michael O'Kennedy. The Governor may well have talked too loudly and too soon: but the fact remains that he saw the Northern Ireland Secretary in London and had secured his agreement to meet with O'Kennedy in New York. Atkins should have been aware that the Governor might well decide to make swift political capital out of his coup. To depart for Tunisia, leaving the Northern Ireland office clearly unprepared for Carey's announcement, and caught off-balance by Dublin's acceptance in principle of the New York initiative, was, putting the most charitable gloss on it, very careless indeed.
But for a Northern Ireland Secretary to premeditate, and having done so, to take, a holiday in August is not only inexcusable political folly but is also no less then derelic tion of duty. It was riots in Belfast and Londonderry ten years ago in August that brought British troops out in the streets supporting the civil order. It is in August that the Apprentice Boys march. It is in August that internment is commemorated.
And, sure enough, it has been in August that violence has once more erupted in Northern Ireland. Last Sunday the IRA put on a show of strength in West Belfast; David O'Connell addressed the Sinn Fein rally; hooded 111A gunmen flaunted their weapons and flouted authority. Troops and police kept out of the way, and Protestant or 'loyalist' opinion has been so outraged that the Ulster Defence Association, which has kept its armed hand behind its back for the past three years, announces that it is to return to paramilitary activities. And all the time the Northern Ireland Secretary has been on holida5, in Tunisia.
If the captain of a ship left the deck knowing a storm was imminent he would lose his command. If a foreign correspondent left his base, knowing big stories were about to break, he would lose his posting. If an MP, come to that, went on holiday and missed a vital division he could very well lose his party's whip. Mr Atkins used to be Chief Whip, in Mr Heath's administration's last two years and then in opposition, first serving Heath and then Mrs Thatcher. He is a former naval officer. He knows about discipline and he knows about duty. As Northern Ireland Secretary he possesses proconsular and viceregal powers: under direct rule, he is Northern Ireland's ruler. He must have known that August was ominous.
Now I would not labour this point if it did not matter. It might be said that he left the 'situation in the capable hands of Mr Michael Alison, who is acting Northern Ireland Secretary during Atkins's absence. Alison has defended the security forces' passive role in the face of Sunday's IRA demonstration and continued violent disorder in West Belfast: 'During the past four days the RUC and the army have acted in a disciplined manner to contain the protests which were deliberately designed to be provocative. Their actions prevented bloodshed in a propaganda campaign to a large extent directed at audiences outside Northern Ireland.' That propaganda campaign looks like meeting with increasing success, and Mr Alison's statement contained nothing to impress foreign opinion. Instead, it engaged the contempt not only of the Reverend Ian Paisley who, whether we like it or not, represents a rock-solid block of Ulster opinion, but also of the official Unionist Party's acting leader, Mr James Molyneux, who declared that the inactivity of the security forces on Sunday had seriously affected Northern Ireland morale. It cannot be said, in fact, that Mr Alison's performance as Mr Atkins's deputy has been impressive; although at least he has been in Ulster. Of course Atkins issued a statement, or a statement was issued on his behalf, praising the troops on their record: 'I should like to express my deeply felt gratitude, and that of my colleagues, to all who have served with the army in Northern Ireland during these past ten years. I pay special tribute to those who have lost their lives or who have suffered injury, and to their families.' But that tribute was paid during Atkins's absence on holiday.
Troop leave was cancelled during August, although some army units are on their tenth tour of duty. Mr Atkins has been less than three months in the job before he is off On holiday. Maybe he had made his arrangements before Mrs Thatcher gave him the job. Maybe he felt tired, and wanted a rest. His arrangments should have been cancelled. If he needed the rest he should have resigned. If you don't like the heat, get out of the kitchen — and stay out, Northern Ireland is not for the dabblers in politics, nor for those without stamina and application. It is an appalling problem which needs to be wrestled with, not toyed with.
The economy and industrial relations apart, it is indeed the greatest of the problems confronting British government. It now confronts Mrs Thatcher and her ministers. It is not a problem which will go away. It is not a problem about which a policy or no policy can indefinitely be sustained. It is a problem requiring the most serious and unremitting political effort. Merlyn Rees, Labour's Northern Ireland Secretary from 1974 to 1976 reminds us this week of Ulster's casualty figures: 'since 1969, 570 soldiers, including men of the Ulster Defence Regiment, are dead and 3.429 injured; 127 policemen of the RUC are dead and 3,360 injured; 1,407 civilians are dead and 15,394 are injured.' There is, however, no immediate alternative to direct rule and the presence of the army. But direct rule and the presence of the armY cannot constitute a permanent solution, and can only constitute a permanent crisis. But the British public will not tolerate a permanent crisis, nor should the Northern Ireland public be expected to suffer it. In Tuesday's Daily Express Merlyn Rees calls for government action in Ulster to discover what, exactly, the major political groupings in Ulster want. On the same day the Daily Mirror repeated the call it made this time last year: Bring home the troops; set a time for their withdrawal; leave Ulster 'free to govern itself and decide its own destiny'. It is an irresponsible call, consigning Northern Ireland to civil war; but it will prove to be au increasingly popular call. And it Will become an irresistible call if politicians do not treat the Irish problem seriously. I do not suppose that Mrs Thatcher has spent much time thinking about it. She has had many other matters on her mind. But none is more pressing and none more obviously demands her attention. In particular, she must address herself to the mattepof MT Atkins. Criticism of Cabinet ministers, when justified, usually preserves them in office, since Prime Ministers do not care to admit to making mistakes in their selection of ministers; nor is the reputation of their administration enhanced by dismissals. Hence their preference for reshuffles. But Mrs Thatcher can hardly start reshuffling her men around yet. I have no doubt that she is as appalled as anyone at Mr Atkins's Tunisian holiday, but to dismiss him, as his conduct clearly requires, will be, for her, an admission of error. I suppose he will stay, unless he can be persuaded to plead sickness. It is a dismaying prospect. The blood of the Irish and the blood of our troops clamour that Britain takes the Irish problem seriously and urgently but English politicians continue to neglect the Irish mess that England made. The Northern Ireland Secretary is on holiday in August and political responsibility is on holiday with him.
Previous page
