And the band played on.

I'm not sure it's Clark - he never appeared to be particularly close to the Palace or Clarence House. In his diaries he was quite uncomplimentary towards the Royals.
 
I'm not sure it's Clark - he never appeared to be particularly close to the Palace or Clarence House. In his diaries he was quite uncomplimentary towards the Royals.

Probably thought they were fairly jumped up Germans :D, but he'd toady beautifully in public.

However, he had been in with the 1970's paranoids for a while.
 
February 15th 1991 saw the funeral of the former Prime Minister, John Major. He became the first holder of the office to be afforded the right of a state funeral since Winston Churchill, but sadly for all not due to his achievements but due to the horrible manner of his passing.
 
As his body went down the route to Westminster Abbey, the streets were lined with mourners. It is estimated that over one million people turned out to bear witness to the conclusion of this tragedy. It was fitting that it was on this day that the state of emergency was lifted by the Prime Minister outside Northern Ireland, where sadly it remains.
 
Sadly, the funeral of John Majors has not been the first and will not be the last held. From the funeral of Tom King to that of Michael Forsyth, huge crowds have turned up to pay their respects. All animosity towards the government, it seems has at this moment vanished into a pool of sympathy.
 
It seems in bad taste to mention it, but the first opinion poll since the attack was published today. The Conservatives were ahead on 48%, with Labour on 31%. In addition to this, Lang has an approval rating of some +49% when questioned over his handling of the crisis. He has entered office in a baptism of fire.
 
Whether this can be maintained is another question.
**************************
BBC News 16/02/1991.

Five British Soldiers have been killed in Londonderry, whilst on patrol. They have been sent there to maintain order as sectarian rioting was threatening to get out of control. With tensions in the Province still high, the government has pledged to maintain order in Northern Ireland.
******************************

“It looks like we have no other option. With the bulk of the army in the Gulf, we need to call up the reserves to keep order.” Ian Lang in a meeting with the NI Secretary. 16/02/1991.
 
So I'm guessing the Northern Ireland strategy will be to swamp the place with as many soldiers as possible?

Other then that could I ask what Ian Lang's platform was on the other issues of the day?
 
So I'm guessing the Northern Ireland strategy will be to swamp the place with as many soldiers as possible?

Other then that could I ask what Ian Lang's platform was on the other issues of the day?
He's only been in office a week in which the cabinet have been wiped out and half the British Army is in the middle east preparing for war.

Principally at the moment, the priorities of the government are sorting out the domestic troubles and the liberation of Kuwait. Other considerations will come later.
 

Falkenburg

Monthly Donor
This is going to get ugly. :mad:

Would I be right in assuming PM Laing is referring to the local part-timers when he mentions calling up the 'reserves'?

Or will he really send 'Mainland' TAs onto the streets of the North?

While several people seem to be almost gleeful at the assassination of Gerry Adams, I would simply note that he was one of the architects of the Totally Un-Armed Strategy (TUAS).

Without Adams and his personal authority the Provisionals will be permanently wedded to the Armed Campaign.

Now this may not bother some who might think the British will 'take the gloves off' and quickly finish the 'Paddies'.
This is to fundamentally misread the situation.

Falkenburgs' Third Law of Irish Political Motion states that for every ill-conceived British Military action there is an equally stupid and bloody paramilitary reaction.

Create a new generation of Republican Martyrs and Britain will reap a bitter harvest when the next generation comes of age.

That being said, this looks VERY interesting. ;)

Falkenburg
 
Last edited:
Interesting TL, the government should thread very carefully with regards to Northern Ireland. Crushing the IRA must be done for obvious reasons but crushing the loyalist thugs would be just as good in the long run, especially as it is important to be even handed in this state of affair.

Hopefully Paisley will get a bullet as well, I don't care whether the round is IRA issue or British Army issue, accidents do happen after all ...
 

Falkenburg

Monthly Donor
Interesting TL, the government should thread very carefully with regards to Northern Ireland. Crushing the IRA must be done for obvious reasons but crushing the loyalist thugs would be just as good in the long run, especially as it is important to be even handed in this state of affair.

Hopefully Paisley will get a bullet as well, I don't care whether the round is IRA issue or British Army issue, accidents do happen after all ...

/\
.l
.l
What he said. Both times. ;)
 
Good TL, Fletch.
I don't think that my dad would be too happy, he was still a reserve in 1991 and his sympathies, even at a moment like this would still be rather anti-Tory.
Again, good TL. Keep it up.
 
Fletcher

Would the IRA have been that successful in the ambush? By that time we're been combating the scum for quite a while and gathered a lot of information on them. I would have thought a crack-down would have involved special forces going in hard and picking up known-suspected members.

Also would the Irish parliament be that openly corrupt and dishonest. I know fascism is still a serious force in Ireland at the time but given what the IRA has just done I think even the worse of them would think carefully before publicly supporting mass political assassination.

Steve
 
Fletcher

Would the IRA have been that successful in the ambush? By that time we're been combating the scum for quite a while and gathered a lot of information on them. I would have thought a crack-down would have involved special forces going in hard and picking up known-suspected members.

Also would the Irish parliament be that openly corrupt and dishonest. I know fascism is still a serious force in Ireland at the time but given what the IRA has just done I think even the worse of them would think carefully before publicly supporting mass political assassination.

Steve
Actually you are right. I'm going to re-write this part. I was aiming at ratcheting it up another notch. With hindsight, I've gone a step too far too soon.

I've got an alternate scenario in mind though..
 
Also would the Irish parliament be that openly corrupt and dishonest. I know fascism is still a serious force in Ireland at the time but given what the IRA has just done I think even the worse of them would think carefully before publicly supporting mass political assassination.
Steve

I'm not really well up on my Irish politics, all I know is that the two major Irish parties (Fianna Fail and Fine Gael) are basically divided by their opinions on the treaty creating the Free State. And I thought the IRA (Official and Provisional) was Marxist. Who are the Irish fascists you're referring to?
 
I'm not really well up on my Irish politics, all I know is that the two major Irish parties (Fianna Fail and Fine Gael) are basically divided by their opinions on the treaty creating the Free State. And I thought the IRA (Official and Provisional) was Marxist. Who are the Irish fascists you're referring to?

joea64

That was the basis I think of their initial forming in the 1920's. I think things have moved on since then but there is occasionally some hostility. I was thinking it wouldn't be so public so quickly since the IRA have just murdered the bulk of an elected government and the incident being reported on was as a result of an IRA ambush. I could see some drunken louts making such accusations in a pub somewhere but most people will accept that was just garbage.

It's my term for those who still support the imperialists of the IRA and other such groups who claim want to conquer and rule the population of Ulster. Since they totally reject democracy and feel they have a divine right to murder and control other people I think it's the most fitting name for them.

A subject I feel rather strongly about.:mad: I loath groups like the IRA that are nothing more than parasitical bunches of thugs with the occasional twisted psycho thrown into the mix. Think the same about the similar 'loyalist' groups but it's the IRA that are responsible for the vast majority of the murders in Ulster so they tend to appear more in such TLs.

Steve
 
The events of February 18th 1991 have gone into history as a dark day in the history of the United Kingdom, indeed they have come to be labelled by a very dark title. Black Monday.
 
Under orders from the Prime Minister, in an act reminiscent of Edward Heaths decision to intern IRA suspects, the Army were sent to arrest any suspected IRA terrorists. As the majority of the army were in the Persian Gulf busy preparing for the liberation of Kuwait, territorial troops from the mainland were sent. As they entered what the Nationalists called “Free Derry”, they were met with open hostility. Despite this, they carried out their jobs to the best of their abilities.
 
That is until they entered a house on Westland Street. The man they had come to arrest, Dermot O’Shea resisted arrest. What happened in that house is a matter for debate until today, but shots were fired inside the house and Mr O’Shea, his wife Bernadette and their three-year old child Joseph were all killed in the carnage. In return, one Territorial was killed with a shot to the head, and another injured.
 
Martin McGuinness, the new leader of Sinn Fein and one of the few leading Republicans not arrested made clear that he lay the blame for the deaths of the O’Shea family firmly at the door of the British government.
 
A picture of three-year old Joseph made the international media. Then things took a turn for the worse.
 
Top