Haughey was a dreadful person
CHARLIE Haughey was a “dreadful person” who “seized every opportunity to get under the Border”, a leading Tory MP fumed.
Secret files from the National Archives recount the 1988 incident, as Richard Ryan from the Irish embassy in London wrote about coming under a barrage from Ivor Stanbrook.
MP Stanbrook had been at the funeral of fellow Tory John Biggs Davison and when he boarded the train back to London, he was invited to join Mr Ryan – who had travelled to convey the Taoiseach’s sympathy – and another Tory MP Sir Antony Buck.
Mr Ryan said Stanbrook accepted the offer but he “had no intention of fraternising with the representative of a State that has no business whatever in the affairs of Northern Ireland”.
The Irish diplomat wrote: “Buck was outraged and said so.” The diplomat tried to get across Dublin’s view on Angloirish relations at the time, but Stanbrook continued with his “spiteful interjections”. Mr Ryan added: “Stanbrook said there has been a ‘transparent consistency’ about the Taoiseach’s intentions over the years: he has always ‘seized’ every opportunity to get under the Border.
“He is a ‘dreadful person – mind you a good politician and I don’t blame him for that. How Margaret [Thatcher] and the others do not see through him is beyond me’.” Charles Haughey