For Unionism, it was yet another betrayal of the pro-Union community in Northern Ireland, this time by a person most Unionists once regarded as a hero - then Tory Prime Minister Maggie Thatcher.
It was to mobilise the Unionist community in a manner not witnessed since the Ulster Workers’ Council strike of 1974 which collapsed the then Sunningdale power-sharing Executive.
What was a tremendous shock for Unionism is that the signing came just over a year after the Provos’ bid to kill Thatcher in the October 1984 in the Brighton hotel bombing in England at the annual Tory party conference.
Did Thatcher think that by signing the Anglo-Irish Agreement, also known as the Hillsborough Accord and to many Unionists, the Dublin Diktat, that the Dail would agree to some magic cross-border security arrangement to defeat IRA terrorism?
Perhaps what Thatcher, her advisors and supporters wanted was some form of official security ‘hot pursuit’ agreement whereby the then RUC, Ulster Defence Regiment, other British Army regiments and even the SAS could chase IRA and INLA terrorists across the Irish border deep into Southern Ireland.
Many republican terror gangs were using the political and geographical safety of the Irish Republic to plan, launch and especially escape when they carried out terrorist atrocities in Northern Ireland.
Did Thatcher seriously think she could trust the Dublin establishment to reciprocate a say in the running of Northern Ireland by cancelling out Southern Ireland being a safe haven for republican terror gangs? Thatcher was obviously misinformed, misguided, even deluded if she thought she could trust the Dublin establishment to keep its side of the bargain.
The Anglo-Irish Agreement spawned the notorious Maryfield Secretariat, located near Belfast, which was where Dublin’s say in interfering in Northern Ireland affairs was administered from.
The real depth of the degree of betrayal of Unionism by Thatcher was etched on the face of the then Ulster Unionist Party leader, Jim Molyneaux, during one of his frequent visits to our family home in North Antrim.
Molyneaux, or ‘Gentleman Jim’ as he was affectionately known in some Unionist circles, viewed my late dad, Rev Dr Robert Coulter MBE, as a political confidant; someone he could talk to and it would not end up in the media.
I was a staff journalist at the Belfast News Letter in 1985 and I was allowed to sit in on their meetings provided I did not repeat what was discussed in the media, too.
In all the years I knew Molyneaux, I have never witnessed him being so depressed as that lunch meeting at our North Antrim home shortly before Christmas 1985.
Molyneaux was close to tears as he admitted he did not think Thatcher would sign such an agreement. He felt totally snubbed by her attitude. Put bluntly, he gave the strong vibe ‘I didn’t see that one coming!’
Molyneaux had often talked about his ‘special relationship’ with Thatcher and the Tory Right-wing. In 1985, the UUP was by far the ‘Big Dog’ of Unionism as the lead party and even within the UUP, the Right-wing Ulster Monday Club pressure group was the most influential of all the factions within the party.
The agreement, signed on British soil between Thatcher and then Taoiseach Dr Garret FitzGerald, was to spark the Unionist protest movements, the Ulster Says No and Ulster Still Says No campaigns.
It saw Unionists getting involved in politics who had previously been inactive or uninterested. The first major Ulster Says No rally at Belfast City Hall saw an estimated 250,000 attend.
One of the poignant images that day was the crowd’s reaction to then DUP leader Rev Ian Paisley’s famous ‘Never, never, never, never’ remark. But whilst people can remember that remark from Paisley senior, can anyone - including myself - remember a single quote from Molyneaux’s speech on that occasion?
Looking back on that specific rally, Molyneaux was very muted. Was it a sign that his ‘special relationship’ with Thatcher was in political tatters, or did he come to the realisation that the seeds of his demise of his leadership of the UUP had been sown at Hillsborough.
While it would be another decade before he would relinquish the leadership in 1995, the grassroots mumblings within the UUP about the need to replace him had already started. The Hillsborough Accord merely shifted them up a notch.
Within Unionism, other organisations were launched or mobilised. The Ulster Clubs was formed, which was a mirror image of the Unionist Clubs which had existed in the early 20th century to organise grassroots opposition to Home Rule for Ireland.
On the paramilitary front, Ulster Resistance was launched with its distinctive red berets. Both the UDA and UVF saw an increase in membership.
Politically, the concept of Ulster independence came on the agenda with the formation of fringe pressure groups such as the Ulster Movement for Self-Determination (MSD). Even the Far Right National Front capitalised on Unionist mobilisation by appointing one of its ruling national directorate members to oversee recruitment in Northern Ireland.
Party politically, too, it was to see a massive degree of Unionist unity between the parties with agreed candidates at the January 1986 protest Westminster by-elections and the 1987 Westminster General Election. Although ironically, Unionism as a whole was to lose an MP in each of those two elections.
What Unionism needs to do in reflecting on the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Dublin Diktat, is to ask itself - how can this spirit of mobilisation and unity be reinvigorated? Put bluntly, Unionism will need to find this seemingly long-lost spirit in time for the 2027 Stormont elections.
In 1985 and 1986, Unionists tramped the cold, wet streets of Ulster against the Anglo-Irish Agreement and got nowhere. The election guns have already been fired for the 2027 campaign.
The seeds which spawned the Pan Nationalist Front were sown in November 1985. That Front is now in full bloom in 2025. Unionism needs to find the political weed killer to spray on it by the time of the next Northern Ireland Assembly poll.
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| Follow Dr John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter John is a Director for Belfast’s Christian radio station, Sunshine 1049 FM. |
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