Margaret Thatcher

Speech in Belfast
5th March 1981
 addressed to NI population
during hunger strike

18 July 1973 Cf. Sunningdale

PM Ireland and UK joined EEC

(Con.) in 1973
1979-
1990

Troubles
UDR: British regiment
established in 1970

Maze Prison: special prison

for paramilitary members
Last of the hnnger strikers
=> Bobby Sands
 unity

No traditional
oppositions

Replaced with terrorists

and criminals => minority
of enemies

The people of Northern Ireland are entitled to a future as secure and hopeful as that of any other part of the
United Kingdom. To that end, we will support the security forces. We will persevere until terrorism has been
Nature and
origin
Speech by Margaret Thatcher → the leader of the traditionally pro-Unionist Conservative
Party and the Prime Minister of Great Britain.
Belfast → addressed primarily to the Northern Irish population and especially to the
Unionists traditionally allied to the Conservatives.
Context 5th March 1981
• Failure of the 1972 Sunningdale Agreement (proposing power-sharing institutions in
NI), the 1970s were marked by attacks by paramilitary groups from both sides, and
repression by the British troops and security services, while the Northern Irish economy
was in recession.
• On 27 August 1979, a double attack by the IRA: assassination of Lord Mountbatten and
his family and bombings of 18 British soldiers.
• From 1976 to 1980 and 1981 marked by hunger strikes by republican prisoners
demanding the status of political prisoners. Bobby Sands will die on 5 th May.
• The Thatcher government is having discussions with the Irish government over the
future of NI which will be finalised in the 1985 Anglo-Irish agreement.
Key themes and
ideas • Personal and political commitment to continued British sovereignty over NI.
• Involvement of the Irish government necessary to achieve peace in NI.
• Support for the operations of the police and the military.
• Replacing the divide between Protestants and Catholics by the divide between the law-
abiding majority and the law-breaking minority.
• Rejecting the claims to political status made by the republican prisoners.
Objective of the
author
Thatcher reassures her mainly Unionist audience by committing herself to firmness against
republican activists, support for military and police operations and continued British
sovereignty over NI, so that they accept the discussions with Ireland.
1. Sovereignty
1.1. The commitment to sovereignty
1.2. Dialogue with Ireland

1.3. Support for the operations of the police and the military

2. The new divide

2.1. The “people of Northern Ireland”

2.2. Majority vs minority

2.3. The “terrorists”

3. Reassuring the Unionists

3.1. Rebutting accusations of betrayal

3.2. Conservative values

3.3. Firmness towards the republican activists