Politics

Unionist MP suggested Queen Elizabeth take direct role in Anglo-Irish talks

Jim Kilfedder proposed re-run of 1914 Buckingham Palace conference

Queen Elizabethshakes hands with Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness watched by First Minister Peter Robinson in Belfast in 2012. A quarter of a century earlier, MP Jim Kilfedder sought her direct involvement in talks on the North’s future. Photograph: Paul Faith/WPA Pool/Getty Images
Queen Elizabethshakes hands with Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness watched by First Minister Peter Robinson in Belfast in 2012. A quarter of a century earlier, MP Jim Kilfedder sought her direct involvement in talks on the North’s future. Photograph: Paul Faith/WPA Pool/Getty Images
Eamon Phoenix
Mon Dec 29 2014 - 01:00

The crisis in unionism after the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement prompted the Northern Ireland Assembly speaker to write to prime minister Margaret Thatcher suggesting a conference with a direct role for Queen Elizabeth.

The proposal, set out in files released in Belfast today, was rejected by Mrs Thatcher.

The suggestion by unionist MP Jim Kilfedder was for a re-run of the 1914 Buckingham Palace conference.

This conference called by King George V brought together unionist and nationalist leaders with prime minister HH Asquith and the Conservative leader to seek a compromise to prevent the Home Rule crisis descending into civil war.The July 1914 conference, in Winston Churchill's memorable phrase, became "bogged down in the muddy byways of Fermanagh and Tyrone" and was overtaken by the outbreak of the first World War.

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Deadlock

In his letter, Mr Kilfedder wrote of the need “to look for fresh means of opening up discussions which we both agree are essential for progress”.

Noting that unionist leaders could not enter into talks without the “suspension of the ‘London-Dublin agreement’” and that Mrs Thatcher had stated that she could not suspend the agreement, Mr Kilfedder saw a role for Queen Elizabeth in breaking “a deadlock for the two communities”.

He said he was "prepared to test the reaction" of the unionist parties and the Ulster people by a "public announcement of my intention to write to Her Majesty asking her to call such a conference on devolved government for Northern Ireland. I believe that my intervention could be helpful but I appreciate that the queen could only act on your advice," he said.

‘Embarrassing Her Majesty’

“I am fearful of embarrassing Her Majesty by making such an announcement before she has an opportunity of considering the proposal.”

A Northern Ireland Office official wrote to Mrs Thatcher’s private secretary saying it would be a mistake to compare the circumstances in 1986 with those of 1914: “Mr Kilfedder’s suggestion . . . would bring Her Majesty for the first time into the politics of devolution and the AIA [Anglo-Irish Agreement].

“It would be wholly undesirable to associate the Queen with such a politically controversial issue in breach of the convention that she stands apart from political activity.”

In her reply to Mr Kilfedder, Mrs Thatcher said: “It would be wrong . . . to involve the queen in such a delicate and contentious and political matter.”

She acknowledged “the great affection and respect” for the queen in the North and added: “I would not wish to cloud or confuse those feelings by associating Her Majesty with political controversy”.