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Peter Taylor

Brits : The War Against the Ira Paperback – January 31, 2002

by Peter Taylor (Author)

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In the final part of his trilogy exploring 'The Troubles' in Northern Ireland, Peter Taylor talks to undercover agents of the British state and reveals for the first time the hidden secrets of the war they waged against the IRA for thirty years. PROVOS and LOYALISTS told the story of the conflict from the point of view of the Republicans and Loyalists; now the story, with all its tragic twists and turns, is told from the British perspective. For the first time, undercover soldiers, Special Branch officers and a top MI6 agent step out of the shadows and, along with the Whitehall mandarins who helped shape policy from Westminster, tell their stories.

Print length

464 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Bloomsbury Pub Ltd
Publication date

January 31, 2002
Dimensions

5.08 x 1.1 x 7.8 inches
ISBN-10

074755806X
ISBN-13

978-0747558064
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bloomsbury Pub Ltd; First Edition (January 31, 2002)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 464 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 074755806X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0747558064
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.08 x 1.1 x 7.8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,794,735 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #99,231 in World History (Books)

Customer Reviews:
52 ratings

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Peter Taylor

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Mark

An unusually good, in-depth look at the British experience in The Troubles.

Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2018

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In this work, Peter Taylor does a wonderful job portraying The Troubles from the British side and is every bit as effective as he was with the republican side in Provos: The IRA and Sinn Fein. This is clearly the effort of someone well-versed in the Ulster turmoil and is a depressing tale as a result.

One of the most interesting parts of the book, that I saw, was the period shortly following the initial blowup in 1969 when British troops were sent in as part of the effort to cool things down. This intervention was initially well-received by the Catholic population, the British being seen as protectors, and this early period might have led to a better course of events since the IRA had not opened up its military campaign against the British Army at this point. However, this didn't last long, and Taylor demonstrates why: British missteps and short-sightedness, Catholic impatience and the determination by elements of the IRA for military confrontation as part of their "Brits out" dreams. These led to the dreary, tragic history that we're familiar with, delaying deeper, more rapid reform and quicker reconciliation between the two religious communities for probably two generations at least.

Taylor's thorough rendition of the changing fortunes and policies of the British government made this reader more appreciative of the headaches experienced by the government, whether Labour or Conservative. Of the three main actors in the Ulster drama, this one clearly had the most difficult role. There were many mistakes (the bungled opportunity with the Catholic population, initially allowing special category status for IRA prisoners, the real but unacknowledged granting of concessions to IRA prisoners after the hunger strikes, the delay in imposing direct rule), missed chances (Sunningdale) and a too-long-in-coming but finally implemented practice of using the SAS as the tool with which to show the IRA that their campaign of force was going nowhere, slowly opening the way to a political settlement.

The Brits, as did the IRA and the loyalists, ended up settling for what many regarded as an unsatisfactory result. But that is often the outcome, and Taylor did a superb job with this history.

2 people found this helpful

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Parker

A Superlative History. A Terrible Beauty. A Terrible Waste.

Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2020

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The entire series is supremely well researched and presented. It is compelling reading. The three volumes feel very close to a comprehensive telling of a long, complex, terrible series of events with fair due paid to each of the focal groups.

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Dr Peter A. McCue

Generally good, but a few problems

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 11, 2019

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Peter Taylor is a journalist who spent a lot of time covering the turbulent period known as the Irish Troubles, which nominally began in the late 1960s. I say ‘nominally’, because there’d been periods of intermittent violence before the late 60s, including IRA attacks on mainland Britain. For example, in August 1939, an IRA bomb in Coventry city centre killed several people and resulted in many injuries.

A Dubliner called Cathal Goulding became the IRA's chief of staff in 1962. He and his leadership colleagues developed a Marxist analysis of the Irish situation, and to some extent steered the IRA away from 'physical force republicanism' towards political action. In 1969/70, republicans of a more traditional outlook broke away to form what became known as the Provisional IRA (PIRA) and Provisional Sinn Féin, although the latter is now known simply as Sinn Féin. The factions remaining loyal to the Goulding leadership were referred to as the Official IRA (OIRA) and Official Sinn Féin. (Later, Official Sinn Féin adopted the title Sinn Féin The Workers' Party. But in 1982, it renamed itself as simply the Workers' Party.)

'Brits' is part of a trilogy by Taylor concerning the recent Troubles. The other two books – neither of which I’ve read – focus, respectively, on the PIRA and the activities of loyalist paramilitaries. After the split in the old IRA, the PIRA went on to become the largest paramilitary organization on the Irish republican side. It killed more people than any other terrorist group during the Troubles. 'Brits' deals with the UK’s military and intelligence response to the PIRA, and the negotiations that finally led to the cessation of its armed campaign and that of most of the other paramilitary groups active during the Troubles. However, since the book was published in 2001 (or 2002, in respect of the paperback version), it doesn’t, of course, cover what’s happened over the last 18 years or so.

In many ways, 'Brits' is a good and informative book, but I noticed some problems. There’s very little mention of the OIRA, which was a significant, and deadly, player in the early years of the Troubles. It doesn’t even appear in the index. At two or three points in the book (e.g. on p. 92), Taylor refers to the OIRA and the PIRA as being different ‘wings’ of the IRA. But that’s wrong. They WEREN'T differing tendencies within one organization (like, for instance, the left and right wings of the Conservative Party). Rather, they were completely separate organizations. On page 118, Taylor refers to a ceasefire declared by the OIRA in May 1972. But he fails to explain that it was 'conditional', and that the OIRA continued to engage in acts of violence, although not on the scale of the PIRA.

On page 168, Taylor refers to the army camp at Catterick (N. Yorks.) as being near the Scottish border. In fact, it’s quite a distance from the border. At points (e.g. on p. 309), Taylor refers to ‘England’ when the reference should be to ‘Great Britain’ or 'the UK’.

6 people found this helpful

F Henwood

Completes the picture, after 'Provos' and 'Loyalists'

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 26, 2017

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The third and final part of the trilogy, Taylor covers the Northern Irish Troubles from the British perspective. British responsibility for Northern Ireland was obvious: creating the partition in the first place. However, given the intractability of unionist opposition to living in a united Ireland, it was probably the only viable option at the time. Certainly, the Catholic population of Southern Ireland showed little inclination to want and try to force the Protestants to come in. But British neglect of the province since partition, ruled by a gerrymandered local assembly dominated by Protestants, was reversed too late to prevent the province’s slide into violence.

British intervention in 1969 was welcomed by Catholics at first. One soldier made an honourable member of the Shamrock Club during his first tour but found the door barred shut when he returned for his second. The honeymoon was all to brief. Perhaps a crucial mistake was the British failure to abolish Stormont, therefore giving the impression that their intervention was to defend the Protestant state. Plus, an army is supposed to uphold law and order could not allow Catholic mobs to try and attack police stations. This, compounded by Bloody Sunday and a botched, inept attempt at internment added fuel to the fire.

For many Republicans and Nationalists, Brits and Loyalists were one and the same but they were not. Both loyalist and Republican terrorist suspects were beaten and ill-treated at Castlereagh (the holding centre for terrorist suspects that became a byword for British torture and ill treatment). However, Taylor acknowledges the onslaught on the Provos military organisation in the mid-70s nearly broke the IRA. A question therefore is raised but not answered. Did the revelations that Taylor and his colleagues bring to light at Castlereagh stymie the possibility of an early close to the war? The question is impossible to answer. In any case, a political solution was the only way forward. Any victory without fundamental political reform would have been a pyrrhic one.

Brutal the British could be. But not as brutal as others fighting insurgencies – or even the British in other settings, like Aden – but British justice more than once lived up to its name for fairness and impartiality. Terrorist suspects convicted on super grass evidence were set free. An appearance before a British court was not the same thing as a show trail. Taylor notes that Stalker, the senior Manchester policemen charged with investigating an alleged shoot-to-kill policy was removed because he was thought to be getting too close to the truth. But his successor, Colin Sampson, Chief Constable of West Yorkshire, completed the work he began. Neither man concluded that there was a deliberate policy to shoot-to-kill but there was a plot by RUC Special Branch and MI5 agents to pervert the course of justice. Decent and honest British cops got to the bottom of it but the Tories decided not to prosecute.

In the last analysis, the British were in Northern Ireland to uphold the majority’s right to self-determination and not for any selfish strategic economic interest. The traditional fear of British rulers, from Elizabeth I to Churchill, that Ireland could be the backdoor to foreign invasion, was redundant in the nuclear age, as if the Warsaw Pact might have attempted a landing in Ireland, in the event of WWIII; a ludicrous scenario. As for exploiting the province, the British spent more on propping it up with subsidies and welfare payments than they ever took out of it in tax. When the Republicans began to grasp this fact, a basis for peace could be found.

Like Taylor’s volumes on Provos and Loyalists, the book is judicious, impartial and fair, allowing those at the sharp end to tell it like they saw it. Once you have read one volume, you have to read the other two, in order to get a panoptic view of how all sides saw the conflict. Like the first two volumes, it deserves the highest praise.

3 people found this helpful

MDJ

Excellent book but really needs updating!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 19, 2019

Verified Purchase

Very good account of the troubles by Taylor. Unfortunately it is showing its age (2000) and does not include all the relevant information that has come out over the last twenty years. It references the now discredited Saville report for example. Would be a classic reference on the troubles if updated as more & more truths are emerging from what was a propaganda war of lies.

One person found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Excellent shopping experience

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 25, 2020

Verified Purchase

Very pleased with purchase. Just what I was looking for. Great quality.
Arrived in good time well packaged and great condition
Would definitely recommend buying this product and seller

DBWM

BRILLIANT.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 18, 2017

Verified Purchase

IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A DEFINITIVE SET OF BOOKS ON "THE TROUBLES", THEN LOOK NO FURTHER. SUPERB IN EVERY RESPECT.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

2 people found this helpful

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