“Starmer and Benn have intensified their colonialist cover-up.”
By Geoff Bell
Those with knowledge of the British state’s colonialism in Ireland will have watched the recent (12 May) BBC Panorama exposure of U.K. war crimes in Afghanistan with a sense of sad familiarity.
First come the killings of the innocents, then the lies about the killings, then the cover-up of the killings and lies.
The same old story: not just in Afghanistan and Northern Ireland, but also, as Panorama showed, in Iraq, and of course in many other countries, at many other times.
Wherever British troops have exercised their governmental mandate to occupy lands beyond their island, they have committed war crimes. Moreover, this is not just a history lesson: the mentality that excuses these actions still thrives with a depressing visibility.
At the start of this year, Labour Outlook highlighted the case of Sean Brown, the official of an Irish sports club in County Antrim who, in 1997, was kidnapped and then killed by a bunch of British Empire loving “loyalists”. This collective noun included not just sectarian paramilitaries, but members of the Northern Ireland police service and British state agents. During an inquest last year, it emerged that more than 25 people were linked to the murder, including several state agents. The inquest was abandoned because evidence submitted by the British state had been so heavily redacted or withheld as to make it useless.
Hilary Benn, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, was asked by both the inquest coroner and Sean’s family to hold a public enquiry into the murder. He refused. He said it should be referred to the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR), set up by the then Tory Government under legislation Starmer had promised to amend. Benn has said the ICRIR would stay, even though at least ten members of it were once in the Northern Ireland police, the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Tony Blair had dissolved this organisation, under advice from ex-Tory Minister Chris Patten, because of its anti-Catholic sectarianism.
What has happened since our initial report?
Starmer and Benn have intensified their colonialist cover-up.
In early April, the Court of Appeal ruled the British government’s refusal to hold a public inquiry into Sean’s murder was “unlawful”. The Appeal Court also found that in refusing the inquiry the government was in breach of two obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights – ones that protect the right to life. The Court also said the ICRIR “is not fit for purpose” in the Brown case – another slap in the faces of Starmer and Benn, and another vindication for the many victims of the Troubles who have no faith in the ICRIR.
The court gave Benn four weeks to “reflect” upon its judgment. But British politicians rarely eat humble pie where Ireland is concerned. So, they decided to appeal that entire verdict to the Supreme Court, kicking the can of worms further down the road. The Brown family has been waiting 28 years for some kind of explanation, judgement or admission concerning what happened to Sean. No-one has ever been tried for his death, let alone convicted. His widow Bridie is now 87 years old. It is hardly surprising that the family has now issued a statement saying that Benn was “trying to make fools” of them.
Of course, their case is not a solitary one. There is a prospect in the near future of the Northern Ireland courts examining civil cases relating to the Glenanne Gang. This was part of the loyalist paramilitary group the Ulster Volunteeer Force who, in County Armagh in the 1970s, murdered 120 in 90 sectarian attacks. They killed Catholics because they were Catholics. None of these victims were involved in any violence.
There is extensive research to show that the gang included members of the RUC and the British Army’s Ulster Defence Regiment, and that other British security services were involved.
There is however a difficulty in proceeding with such cases, one that has recently been highlighted by none other than the current Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, Jon Boutcher. In early May, he complained that the Labour government was refusing to sufficiently fund inquiries in such cases. He also criticised the government’s general approach to legacy cases, saying “it falls short” of what is required. He called for a “victim-focussed” approach from the government, echoing the Brown family and many human right organisations in and outside Ireland.
Whether or not Benn and Starmer take any notice of this, or indeed of another recent criticism of their handing of the Sean Brown case by the Irish government, remains to be seen.
What is definite is that what they have already put the Brown family and similar victims through shows a lack of compassion for a family that has suffered greatly. Politically, it shows a determination to escape the reality of the British legacy in Northern Ireland.
To repeat, the same old story.
- Geoff Bell is a member of Labour Movement for Irish Unity. You can follow Labour for Irish Unity on Facebook and Twitter/X.
- Geoff Bell recently appeared on an episode of the Labour Left Podcast – you can tune in here.
