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Debate on the Address

My Lords, I begin by expressing my thanks for the kindness and friendship shown to me in my first two months in this House. Those of us who now represent Northern Ireland in this place deeply appreciate the welcome from so many Members, particularly the encouraging words of the noble Lord, Lord Howell. I have also greatly appreciated the unobtrusive guidance and advice offered by all the officers and staff whom I have encountered. I assure your Lordships that a word of direction is often welcome for someone of my considerable girth who is attempting to negotiate the narrow nooks and crannies and steep staircases to find the way to the very fine restaurants. As one of the first three members of the Democratic Unionist Party to sit in your Lordships’ House, I regard it as a great honour and privilege to have the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the defence measures to be taken, outlined by Her Majesty in her gracious Speech last week. I must confess that my own military experience is limited, being confined to a short period as a lance corporal in the Royal Engineers in the Combined Cadet Force as a schoolboy, when my main duties were transferring baggage from the Heysham ferry to the train on the way to the annual training camp at Halton in Lancaster. Even in those days baggage went astray. However, more recently I have had the pleasure of meeting and working often with members of the armed services and the Police Service of Northern Ireland throughout my term as the Lord Mayor of Belfast. I also have the privilege to serve as a board member of the Somme Association of Northern Ireland, representing veterans and their interests throughout the Province. I was always moved by the modesty and directness of those whom I met, and especially by the quiet courage of the relatives of those who had suffered injury or who had made the ultimate sacrifice. In particular, I was very proud to officiate when the award of the George Cross to the Royal Ulster Constabulary was honoured by its incorporation into its memorial window at Belfast City Hall. Despite my lack of expertise in defence and military strategy, perhaps the involuntary experience of observing at close quarters for 30 years the implementation of security policy in Northern Ireland has prompted me to think more about terrorism and how to deal with it than the man in the street, although unfortunately he too has become all too familiar with it in recent years. Given the assurance in Her Majesty’s gracious Speech last Wednesday that further action to address the threat of terrorism will be at the heart of her Government’s policy, perhaps your Lordships will bear with me if I venture some thoughts on the subject from a historical perspective which I hope are neither controversial nor vacuous. Terrorism is not new. Perhaps this may appear to be stating the obvious, but sometimes commentators would lead one to believe that, with the ending of the Cold War, the world is facing a strange and novel threat from what is described as international terrorism. In fact, if we had been sitting in this august Chamber 100 years ago, a major concern of many of us would have been the growth of worldwide anarchist terrorism, which appeared to pose a grave threat to the social order. As the historian Mr Misha Glenny points out, between 1900 and 1913, no fewer than 40 heads of state, politicians and diplomats fell victim to the terrorist bullet or bomb, including four kings, six prime ministers and three presidents. In Britain, the dangers of international terrorism were reinforced in the public imagination when immigrant Latvian revolutionaries opened fire on the police in the famous siege of Sidney Street in 1911. Many ofus will remember that the then Home Secretary,Mr Winston Churchill, rushed to the scene and authorised the deployment of the Scots Guards in support of the Metropolitan Police. Yet 10 years later this wave of anarchist violence and political assassination had receded and the threat was soon forgotten. However, this outcome was probably more the consequence of the end of tsarist Russia than of any planned security policy. The most notorious terrorist outrage of the period, in its consequences—perhaps comparable with 9/11—was the murder of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo, Bosnia, on 28 June 1914. Since 1906 the Austrians had tried various expedients, including economic sanctions and great power pressure, to bring to heel what they perceived as the rogue state of Serbia, which was sponsoring terrorism in the Slavic provinces of the empire, and in particular among the Serbian community in Bosnia. In fact, most historians agree that the terrorist threat was probably greatly exaggerated. The Black Hand movement, which carried out the assassination—though it received financial and logistical support from senior Serbian military and political figures—was, in fact, poorly organised and inexperienced. Nevertheless, it had succeeded in carrying out a ““spectacular”” and the Austrians felt compelled to react. The rest, as they say, is history. With the benefit of hindsight it is easy to assert that the Austrians should have instead concentrated on intelligence gathering, undercover activities and political organisation and propaganda in their Bosnian province. On the other hand, it might be argued that the Serbian national terrorism would have been eradicated if the Austrians had ultimately been victorious in their ““war on terror””. Both these contentions are inevitably speculative, but one fact is incontrovertible: Serbian ethnic nationalism in Bosnia survived not only the defeat of the Serbian army in the Great War but also the brutal German occupation of the Second World War and the unrelenting suppression of separatist movements by Tito’s secret police, only to emerge with renewed vigour in the latter part of the 20th century. The use of military force as a response to terrorism does not appear to have been decisive in either ofthe 20th century examples I have mentioned. Nevertheless, to assert that terrorism, particularly where it springs from ethnic divisions, is countered more effectively and efficiently by covert operations would be to rush to an unwarranted conclusion. Having failed to arrive at any definite conclusion on the broad issues, I should like to refer to the brave men and women on whom we impose the difficult task of implementing our counter-terrorist strategies. I acknowledge the sacrifices made by the men and women of the Army, police and auxiliary services throughout the 30 years of the terrorist campaign in Northern Ireland. In particular, I refer to the Royal Irish Regiment, whose home service battalions were recently disbanded and who received the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross from Her Majesty the Queen in Belfast on 6 October this year. Indeed, members of the Irish Guards, alongside the Royal Irish Regiment, are now serving with distinction in Iraq. I echo the acknowledgement that we all owe a tremendous debt to all the men and women of the British Crown Forces who are serving today. I have not sought to discuss military or political policy in Northern Ireland today. However, I conclude by expressing my profound hope that the necessary democratic conditions will come about so that the Government’s aim of restoring devolution in Northern Ireland, as outlined in Her Majesty’s gracious Speech, will be achieved.