Will David Cameron now sanction an inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane?
Supporters of murdered civil rights lawyer step up demands for full, independent public inquiry after MI5 offered to hand over files
Even David Cameron's fiercest opponents agree that one of his finest moments as prime minister came on 15 June this year when he offered an unequivocal apology for the killings on Bloody Sunday in 1972.
Nationalists in Derry erupted with joy when the prime minister said he was "deeply sorry" as he published the inquiry into the 1972 Bloody Sunday shootings in a statement to MPs.Towards the end of his statement, by which time the ecstatic crowds in Derry's Guildhall Square were too busy hugging eachother to watch, the prime minister indicated that the Bloody Sunday inquiry would be the last of its kind:
It is right to pursue the truth with vigour and thoroughness, but let me reassure the House that there will be no more open-ended and costly inquiries into the past.The prime minister did qualify these remarks later in response to questions from Harriet Harman, then Labour's acting leader:
I think that it is right to use, as far as is possible, the Historical Enquiries Team to deal with the problems of the past and to avoid having more open-ended, highly costly inquiries, but of course we should look at each case on its merits.
US embassy cables, published tonight by WikiLeaks, indicate that the prime minister will now face pressure to launch another independent public inquiry into one of the most notorious murders in the history of the Troubles. A cable from the US embassy in Dublin shows that MI5 agreed to hand over its files to an inquiry into the 1989 murder of the civil rights lawyer Pat Finucane.
The murder of Finucane enraged nationalist Ireland because he was shot in front of his wife and three young children by loyalist gunmen working with members of the security forces. An inquiry would shine a light on a deeply murky world during the Troubles when members of the security forces, in the military and the RUC, allegedly colluded in the targeting of Catholics.The MI5 offer to hand over its files is revealed in a cable from June 2005, written by the US ambassador to Dublin James C. Kenny, which reported on a meeting between the head of MI5 and Mitchell Reiss, the US envoy to Ireland. In an account of a meeting between Reiss and Bertie Ahern, then Taoiseach, the ambassador wrote:
The Taoiseach raised the Finucane case, as did every other GOI official with whom Reiss met. Reiss briefed him on his talks in London, including with the head of MI5 [Eliza Manningham-Buller], who committed to turning over all evidence her agency has to the inquiry, but she was adamant that the inquiry will proceed using the new legislation.The offer from MI5 was welcomed as "highly significant" by Peter Madden, Finucane's former law partner, who has campaigned for a full inquiry for the past 20 years. Madden indicated that the Finucane family may be willing to soften one of their key demands – that a full, independent inquiry should be held along the lines of the Bloody Sunday inquiry.
The family has resisted an inquiry in recent years after Tony Blair changed the legislation governing inquiries in 2005. Blair tightened the procedures for inquiries, which had been held on the basis of legislation dating back to the 1920s, in two key ways to win the support of MI5 for future inquiries. The changes ensured that:
• An inquiry could not delve beyond official papers it is granted. MI5 felt that inquiries under the old rules could "range all over the place", one British source said.
• Sensitive papers could be redacted when a final report is published.
The reported offer of files by MI5 indicates that the security service felt comfortable with the legislation introduced by Blair. MI5 had feared that a free ranging inquiry might shine an unwelcome light of its methods of handling agents in Northern Ireland.
But MI5 does not believe that an inquiry into the murder of Finucane would uncover any embarrassing details about its work. The security service believes that the military will face more pressure.Owen Paterson, the Northern Ireland secretary, has said that he will decide in the New Year whether to hold a public inquiry. Paterson, who has met Finucane's widow Geraldine, says he has an "open mind". But in a letter to Mrs Finucane, he said that he would have to bear in mind a series of factors including "the current pressures on the UK Government's finances".
The cables will remind Paterson that his decision will be watched with great care by nationalist Ireland. Kenny, then US ambassador to Dublin, wrote in July 2004 of how the Finucane murder was a major issue for all nationalists. In an account of a meeting between Reiss and Ahern, the ambassador wrote:
Ahern said it is not a republican, but a nationalist, issue. Because there is such broad-based support across the nationalist community in the North for an inquiry, SF will insist on it.The then Taoiseach made clear nationalist Ireland felt so strongly because of deep suspicions of high level collusion in the murder. This is what ambassador Kenny said in the cable on 1 June 2005:
The Taoiseach said that the GOI [government of Ireland] wants the UK to provide evidence acknowledging its involvement in Finucane's murder and it wants to know how high in the UK government collusion went. He said if the UK were to provide the information, it would only grab the headlines for a few hours because "everyone knows the UK was involved."But Ahern was wary of whether MI5 would actually co-operate because of Britain's refusal to co-operate fully with a report into a notorious series of car bombings in the Irish Republic in 1974 which killed 33 people. The report by Mr Justice Henry Barron, published in 2003, said it was not possible to prove that members of the British security forces had colluded with the bombers "unless further information comes to hand". Barron added that Britain had refused to provide original documents on grounds of security. Ambassador Kenny wrote:
The Taoiseach said that the entire parliament was united in opposition to the UK approach. Parliament does not believe the UK will give all evidence because, in its view, the UK did not cooperate fully with the Barron commission's investigation into the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings.These concerns were shared by the US. A year earlier, in his July 2004 cable, Kenny had quoted Ahern as saying: "Tony (Blair) knows what he has to do."
The US ambassador added:
Presumably, that the PM will have to overrule elements of the security-legal establishments to see that some form of public inquiry is held.Cameron, who is a staunch Unionist, surprised nationalists with his clear and unequivocal apology for Bloody Sunday. But the US embassy cables leaked tonight show he now faces two new tests with nationalists:
• If he decides to hold an inquiry can he reassure the Finucane family who fear that the 2005 legislation is too restrictive?
• If he decides not to hold an inquiry, on the grounds that he does not want another "open-ended and costly" examination of the past, how will he respond to those who say this means that the MI5 papers will remain under lock and key forever?
