A Question of Bipartisanship, 1950–86: British Politics and the Northern Ireland Problem

  • D. G. Boyce
Chapter
Part of the British History in Perspective book series (BHP)

Abstract

When the Labour government passed the Ireland Act in 1949 it seemed that the Irish Question had passed out of British politics, if not out of British history. But it could be argued that the general and more famous, social legislation of that government was ultimately of greater significance for the future of Northern Ireland at least, and therefore of the whole of Ireland and indeed of the United Kingdom. The Labour government’s implementation of the welfare state and the national health service, which built upon the wartime Beveridge report on the social services, was intended to bring about at least a modicum of comparability between the social and economic development of the various regions that comprised the kingdom. And while individual members of the Unionist Party might entertain suspicions about the nature of ‘socialism’, they could hardly stand idly by and see policies introduced in the English regions, Scotland and Wales which affected those industrially disadvantaged areas, which could with considerable benefit be extended to Northern Ireland. As J. M. Andrews, Northern Ireland’s prime minister who succeeded Sir James Craig in 1940 put it:

What keeps the matter right in Great Britain is the fact that there are great rich areas such as London which help to carry the burden of the areas not so favourably circumstanced.1

This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. 1.
    D. G. Boyce, ‘Ulster: Some Consequences of Devolution’, Planet, 13 (August/September 1972), p. 6.Google Scholar
  2. 2.
    D. Harkness, Northern Ireland since 1920 (Dublin, 1983), p. 131.Google Scholar
  3. 3.
    Paul Rose, Backbencher’s Dilemma (London, 1981), pp. 178–9, 183.Google Scholar
  4. 4.
    Harold Wilson, The Labour Government, 1964–1970: A Personal Record (London, 1971), p. 270.Google Scholar
  5. 5.
    Terence O’Neill, Autobiography (London, 1972), p. 99.Google Scholar
  6. 6.
    Wilson, op. cit., p. 672.Google Scholar
  7. 7.
    Richard Crossman, The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister, Vol. III: Secretary of State for Social Services, 1968–70 (London, 1977), pp. 477–8, 570, 618–9.Google Scholar
  8. 8.
    Ibid., p. 622.Google Scholar
  9. 9.
    New Statesman, 22 August 1969.Google Scholar
  10. 10.
    Crossman, op. cit., p. 623.Google Scholar
  11. 11.
    Economist, 23 August 1969.Google Scholar
  12. 12.
    Patrick Buckland, A History of Northern Ireland (London, 1981), p. 133.Google Scholar
  13. 13.
    B. H. Reid, ‘The Experience of the British Army in Northern Ireland’, in Alan O’Day and Y. Alexander, Ireland’s Terrorist Dilemma (Dordrecht, 1986), p. 256.Google Scholar
  14. 14.
    Barry White, John Hume: Statesman of the Troubles (Belfast, 1984), p. 120.Google Scholar
  15. 15.
    Reid, op. cit., pp. 257–8.Google Scholar
  16. 16.
    Wilson, op. cit., p. 697.Google Scholar
  17. 17.
    Henry Patterson, ‘British Governments and the “Protestant Backlash” 1969–74’, in A. O’Day and Y. Alexander, Ireland’s Terrorist Dilemma, p. 232.Google Scholar
  18. 18.
    Harold Wilson, Final Term: the Labour Government, 1974–76 (London, 1971), p. 71.Google Scholar
  19. 19.
    Merlyn Rees, Northern Ireland: a Personal View (London, 1985), p. 77.Google Scholar
  20. 20.
    Reid, op. cit., pp. 258–60.Google Scholar
  21. 21.
    Wilson, Final Term, p. 77.Google Scholar
  22. 22.
    Barbara Castle, Diaries, 1974–76 (London, 1980), pp. 236–7.Google Scholar
  23. 23.
    Wilson, Final Term, p. 78.Google Scholar
  24. 24.
    Richard Rose, Northern Ireland: a Time of Choice (London, 1976), pp. 124, 126–7.Google Scholar
  25. 25.
    P. Bew and H. Patterson, The British State and the Ulster Crisis from Wilson to Thatcher (London, 1985), p. 87.Google Scholar
  26. 26.
    Rees, op. cit., p. 180.Google Scholar
  27. 27.
    K. Pringle, ‘British Labour Party Policies in Northern Ireland’, University of Bristol, B.A. Dissertation (1984), p. 60.Google Scholar
  28. 28.
    For an example see Martin Collins (ed.), Ireland After Britain (London, 1985), esp. p. 150.Google Scholar
  29. 30.
    Anthony Kenny, The Road to Hillsborough (London, 1986), p. 37.Google Scholar
  30. 31.
    Ibid., Ch. 8.Google Scholar
  31. 32.
    Tom Garvin, ‘The Politics of the Republic of Ireland: the Impact of the North’, unpublished paper read to Conference at Keele University, March 1986, esp. p. 10.Google Scholar
  32. 33.
    Kenny, op. cit., Ch. 16.Google Scholar
  33. 34.
    Ibid., p. 103.Google Scholar
  34. 35.
    Economist, ‘Don’t Cry for Ulster’, 23 November 1985.Google Scholar
  35. 36.
    Kenny, op. cit., p. 83.Google Scholar
  36. 37.
    For a survey of British public opinion in 1986 see James Naughtie, ‘The View From the Other End of the Telescope’, Fortnight (Belfast), No. 245 (November 1986), pp. 4–6, and Conor O’Cleary, ‘North Slips Down Everyone’s Agenda’, ibid., pp. 8–10.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© D. G. Boyce 1988

Authors and Affiliations

  • D. G. Boyce

There are no affiliations available

Personalised recommendations