The ‘Butcher of Bogside’ who became recognised as a peacemaker
In death as in life, Martin McGuinness divides opinion with tributes paid and condemnations issued
IT IS a measure of Martin McGuinness’s remarkable transformation from IRA commander to peacemaker that Buckingham Palace announced yesterday that the Queen has decided to send a private letter of condolence to his widow.
The IRA had, after all, assassinated Earl Mountbatten of Burma, the Queen’s second cousin and Duke of Edinburgh’s uncle, by placing a bomb on his fishing boat. The earl’s 14-year-old grandson was also murdered in the atrocity in 1979, the same year McGuinness was appointed the Provisional IRA’s chief of staff.
But 33 years after those murders, Her Majesty found herself shaking the “bloodied” hands of the “Butcher of Bogside”. The historic photographs of their first meeting in 2012 illustrated just how far he, and Irish politics, had travelled. Yesterday Buckingham Palace declined to issue a public statement on the former Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister. But the Queen’s offer to send private condolences to Bernie, his widow, shows just how far he had travelled from IRA enforcer to senior establishment figure.
In death as in life, Martin McGuinness divided opinion. Colin Parry, whose 12-year-old son Tim was murdered when the IRA bombed Warrington town centre in March 1993, could not bring himself to absolve McGuinness but praised him all the same. “Forgiveness never comes into it. I don’t forgive Martin. I don’t forgive the IRA – nor does my wife, nor do my children,” said Mr Parry. “But setting aside forgiveness, the simple fact is I found Martin McGuinness [to be]... a man who I believe was sincere in his desire for peace and maintaining the peace process at all costs.”
Sir John Major, who paved the way for peace during his Downing Street tenure, accused McGuinness, who was 66 when he died, of having “a lot of blood on his hands”, but added: “I do recognise the part he subsequently played in building a peace process”.
Other politicians praised McGuinness as a man who had in the last 20 years left his violent past behind.
Tony Blair, who negotiated peace with McGuinness, said: “[F]or those of us able finally to bring about the North-
‘Setting aside forgiveness, I found Martin McGuinness... a man I believe was sincere in his desire for peace’
ern Ireland peace agreement, we know we could never have done it without Martin’s leadership, courage and quiet insistence that the past should not define the future.”
Gerry Adams, McGuinness’s Sinn Féin colleague, acted as a pallbearer as his coffin was followed by a huge crowd through the streets of Londonderry. Mr Adams described him as a “passionate republican who worked tirelessly for peace and reconciliation and for the reunification of his country”.
Theresa May said: “While I can never condone the path he took in the earlier part of his life, Martin McGuinness ultimately played a defining role in leading the republican movement away from violence.”
Ian Paisley Jr, whose father forged an unlikely friendship with McGuinness as First Minister and Deputy First Minister in a 2007 power-sharing government, added his own tribute. He described McGuinness as “godfather of the IRA” before adding: “I think the Christian view in life is how a person’s journey started is of course important, but it is how it finishes which is actually more important.”
And George Hamilton, Chief Constable of Northern Ireland, while acknowledging officers’ suffering during the Troubles, added: “Martin McGuinness believed in a better future for our community, and this is a vision shared by policing.” Michelle O’Neill, McGuinness’s successor as Sinn Féin leader at Stormont, called him “a giant of a man…my friend and mentor”.
Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader and long-standing supporter of Irish Republicanism, eulogised McGuinness for his “huge role in securing peace”. “He was a great family man and my thoughts are with them,” he said in a statement on Twitter that provoked outrage from victims.
“Jeremy Corbyn is the leader of the Labour Party – he speaks for Labour. Is this the kind of reflection and legacy that the Labour Party and its supporters want to have in the history books?” said Julie Hambleton, whose sister was murdered in the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings.