'Doomsday' plan for North revealed in archives

At the height of the troubles in Northern Ireland British Prime Minister Mr Harold Wilson drew up a secret "Doomsday" plan in…

At the height of the troubles in Northern Ireland British Prime Minister Mr Harold Wilson drew up a secret "Doomsday" plan in readiness for a "panic" British withdrawal, according to official files made public today.

In a memorandum marked "Top Secret", released to the National Archives under the 30-year rule, Mr Wilson set out emergency proposals for Northern Ireland to be given "Dominion status", effectively severing it from the United Kingdom.

Under the plan, which was circulated to only his closest advisers, all British funding would have been cut off within five years, although a small army garrison would have been retained. Mr Wilson admitted that the scheme - effectively returning Northern Ireland to Protestant majority rule - would provoke an international outcry and could lead to massive bloodshed.

However, in the memorandum sent only to his principal private secretary Mr Robert Armstrong, he warned that the worsening situation meant that drastic measures may soon be inevitable. "All this affects the drafting of any Doomsday scenario," he wrote. "I repeat that this scenario, like any other, leaves more questions unresolved than it answers.

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"But it is one possible scenario, and I have a feeling that parliamentary and other pressures may drive us to pretty early consideration of it, or any other alternative."

Mr Wilson drew up his memo at the end of May 1974 following the collapse of Northern Ireland's first attempt at power-sharing between unionists and nationalists, agreed the year before at the Sunningdale talks.

He conceded that, in the face of a crippling strike by Protestant workers opposed to the agreement, the British government had effectively lost control of the situation.

"It is clear that we are in the position of `responsibility without power'. The traditional prerogative of something very unpleasant throughout the ages - I think a eunuch," he reflected gloomily.

The full plan, drawn up for Mr Wilson by officials, is still considered to be so sensitive that it has not been released to the National Archive. However the gist of the scheme is apparent from Mr Wilson's memo, which made clear that its provisions would almost certainly have to be implemented at very short notice.

The plan appeared to have involved elections to a new constituent assembly, almost certainly ensuring a return to power of the Protestant majority. Mr Wilson said that there would have to be guarantees built in to protect the rights of the minority Catholic population. Even so, he accepted that the plan carried enormous risks.

"It is open to nearly all the objections set out in the document - outbreak of violence and bloodshed, possible unacceptability to moderate Catholics, ditto to the Republic, the United Nations and the possible spread of trouble across the water, to name but a few," he said.

PA