"Ministers plan official account of the Troubles amid fears IRA supporters are rewriting history
Brandon Lewis draws up proposals for new historical record of conflict, spanning from Sixties through to signing of Good Friday Agreement
By Harry Yorke, WHITEHALL EDITOR Telegraph 13 November 2021 • 9:00pm
The official history is expected to focus on the role of the British Government and Armed Forces in the 30-year sectarian conflict The official history is expected to focus on the role of the British Government and Armed Forces in the 30-year sectarian conflict
An official history of The Troubles will be commissioned under government plans, amid fears the narrative of the conflict is being distorted by republicans.
The Telegraph has learnt that Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland Secretary, has drawn up proposals that would establish a new historical record spanning from the Sixties through to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.
According to multiple sources, the plans, which are being discussed with Downing Street, would help to guard against what some ministers believe to be creeping revisionism around the role of the IRA and the atrocities it committed.
It would also focus on the role of the British Government and Armed Forces in the 30-year sectarian conflict, including the Bloody Sunday massacre of 1972, when 13 civilians were shot dead by troops. If signed off, the official history project would sit alongside a package of measures announced earlier this year to move away from prosecuting crimes committed before the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 and towards information recovery and reconciliation for the victims.
Approached for comment on Saturday night, Whiteheall sources insisted the official history would be independent of ministers and would involve historians being appointed to produce a balanced historical record. It is expected to take several years to compile, with sources likening it to the official publications produced after the First World War.
Backlash expected from Sinn Fein
The move is likely to be welcomed by unionist parties, who believe that republican figures have sought to diminish the role of the IRA and recast their own role in the conflict. However, it is expected to provoke a backlash from Sinn Fein, the nationalist party, which was historically associated with the IRA during the Troubles.
It also risks further souring relations with Dublin, which has already claimed that the Troubles “amnesty” risks undermining the peace accords and could face a legal challenge being brought in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
It is understood that Mr Lewis intends to begin legislating on the statute of limitations before the new year, despite opposition from all five of Northern Ireland’s main parties and the Irish Government.
The effective amnesty will apply to British veterans, former members of the security services and Royal Ulster Constabulary, as well as the IRA and loyalist paramilitaries.
Mr Johnson and Mr Lewis believe it is the only legal way to prevent elderly veterans from being repeatedly investigated and dragged into court.
They also believe the cycle of investigations and legal cases is failing to provide closure and justice for victims' families, who would be better served by a process centred on information recovery. Under the plans devised by the Northern Ireland Office, a group of historians would be appointed by the Government on privy council terms to undertake the project.
The Telegraph understands that ministers are also considering asking the Northern Ireland centenary historical advisory panel, chaired by the historian Lord Bew, to lend their expertise. Work on official histories began in 1908 with an initial focus on naval and military history.
Published in volumes between 1923 and 1949, the History of the Great War was produced by the historical section of the governmental body the Committee of Imperial Defence. It spanned military, naval and air operations, as well as the medical history of the war. However, in 1966, Harold Wilson, the prime minister, announced that the range of official history was to be extended to include selected periods or episodes of peacetime history."
