Revealed: Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell's close IRA links
Telegraph investigation shows Labour's new leader Jeremy Corbyn and shadow chancellor John McDonnell have long been associated with the Irish terror group
MP Jeremy Corbyn with Gerry Adams at the Bobby Sands and James Connolly commemoration at Conway Hall, London.
Mr Corbyn and Mr Adams at a Sands/Connolly event Photo: Times Newspapers Ltd
By Andrew Gilligan
10 Oct 2015
The true extent of Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell’s links with the IRA is revealed by a Telegraph investigation.
It can be disclosed that for seven years running, while the IRA “armed struggle” was at its height, Mr Corbyn attended and spoke at official republican commemorations to honour dead IRA terrorists, IRA “prisoners of war” and the active “soldiers of the IRA.”
The official programme for the 1988 event, held one week after the IRA murdered three British servicemen in the Netherlands, states that “force of arms is the only method capable of bringing about a free and united Socialist Ireland.” Mr Corbyn used the event to attack the Anglo-Irish Agreement, the precursor of the peace process.
"They were enemies of the peace process. They had a clear choice between the IRA and peaceful nationalism and they chose the IRA."
Nigel Dodds, the Democratic Unionist MP for North Belfast
He said it had resulted in no improvement in the lives of the people of Northern Ireland, adding: “It strengthens rather than weakens the border between the six and the 26 counties, and those of us who wish to see a united Ireland oppose the agreement for that reason.”
The editorial board of a hard-Left magazine, of which Mr Corbyn was a member, wrote an article praising the Brighton bombing. In its article on the IRA attack, which almost wiped out Margaret Thatcher’s Cabinet, the editorial board of London Labour Briefing said the atrocity showed that “the British only sit up and take notice [of Ireland] when they are bombed into it.”
According to an authoritative parliamentary reference work, Mr Corbyn was general secretary of the editorial board. He wrote the front-page story in the same issue of Briefing.
The same edition of Briefing, for December 1984, carried a reader’s letter praising the “audacity” of the IRA attack and stating: “What do you call four dead Tories? A start.”
It mocked Norman, now Lord, Tebbit, the trade secretary who was dug out of the rubble of the Grand Hotel, saying: “Try riding your bike now, Norman.”
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It can also be revealed that in 2004 Mr McDonnell, now Labour’s shadow chancellor, was given a special award by Sinn Fein and another IRA-supporting body for the “unfailing political and personal support he has given to the republican community in the Six Counties over many years.”
John McDonnell is presented with a Hunger Strike commemorative plaque by Gerry Kelly
John McDonnell is presented with a Hunger Strike commemorative plaque by Gerry Kelly
The award was presented to him at a Sinn Fein fundraising dinner by Gerry Kelly, the IRA terrorist who bombed the Old Bailey, killing one and injuring almost 200.
Kelly, now a senior Sinn Fein politician, also led the 1983 breakout of IRA inmates from the Maze prison, during which he shot a prison officer in the head.
As has been widely reported, Mr McDonnell also honoured IRA terrorists, though in his case only after the ceasefire.
In his apology for the remarks last month, Mr McDonnell claimed he only made them to promote the peace process.
In fact, however, Mr McDonnell told the IRA’s official newspaper that he opposed the peace process negotiations to create a power-sharing assembly in what became the Good Friday Agreement.
He said: “An assembly is not what people have laid down their lives for over thirty years…the settlement must be for a united Ireland.”
The disclosures are made after research by the Telegraph in archives in London, Oxford and Belfast.
They come after the Prime Minister, David Cameron, attacked Mr Corbyn last week as “terrorist-sympathising” and “Britain-hating.”
The new revelations were greeted with shock and disgust by victims and opponents of the IRA.
Lord Tebbit, whose wife, Margaret, was permanently crippled by the Brighton bomb, said: "It’s hard to think how Corbyn could sink any lower. It’s the classic definition of the snake’s belly. He betrays his hatred of democracy and his love of violence, which survives to this day.”
Nigel Dodds, the Democratic Unionist MP for North Belfast, said: “Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell speak about honest politics and straight talking, but they should stop trying to pretend and tell lies that they were pro-peace. They were pro-terrorism. They were enemies of the peace process. They had a clear choice between the IRA and peaceful nationalism and they chose the IRA.”
Between 1986 and 1992, Mr Corbyn attended and spoke each year at the annual “Connolly/Sands” commemoration in London to honour dead IRA terrorists and support imprisoned IRA “prisoners of war.”
Programmes for the events have been obtained by the Telegraph.
The programme for the 1987 event, on May 16 of that year, praises the “soldiers of the IRA,” saying: “We are proud of our people and the revolutionaries who are an integral part of that people.”
The programme for the 1988 event, on May 8 of that year, states that “in this, the conclusive phase in the war to rid Ireland of the scourge of British imperialism… force of arms is the only method capable of bringing this about.”
The event took place the day after the funerals of the service personnel killed by the IRA in the Netherlands.
Each programme includes a list of IRA “prisoners of war” who are to be honoured that year, including the Brighton bomber, Patrick Magee, and sectarian murderers.
The lists include their prisons and birthdays, with IRA supporters in the UK encouraged to send them birthday cards in jail.
Mr Corbyn typically spoke alongside senior figures from Sinn Fein, including Gerry Adams at the 1991 event, at which he attacked “British imperialism” and praised Bobby Sands, the IRA terrorist who died on hunger
The events were organised by the Wolfe Tone Society, which describes itself in the programmes as an “Irish republican support group based in London. Its work consists of helping republican prisoners’ relatives and promoting the policies and publications of Sinn Fein.”
Mr Corbyn and Mr McDonnell “work closely” with the Wolfe Tone Society, according to its convenor, Dennis Grace, speaking at the 2006 event.
It was at the Wolfe Tone Society’s 2003 commemoration that Mr McDonnell made his now notorious comments calling for Sands and other terrorists to be “honoured,” adding: “It was the bombs and bullets and sacrifice made by the likes of Bobby Sands that brought Britain to the negotiating table.”
In his apology last month for the remarks, Mr McDonnell claimed that he made them to promote the peace process, saying: “I went out and argued for the peace process and I made this speech to a group of republicans because one of the problems we had is that if there was a feeling that they were defeated or humiliated they would not stand down.”
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