There was a message that accompanied the post bombs from Ireland

The Dissident Republican (DR) paramilitary group identifying as the IRA that said it sent letter bombs to London and Glasgow last week seeks to claim the cultural heritage of the Irish republican cause.

This “New IRA” emerged around 2012 as an amalgamation of the Real IRA and Republican Action Against Drugs, based largely in Londonderry and Strabane. The group said it was pursuing the armed struggle against British rule in Northern Ireland as “the Irish people have been sold a phoney peace, rubber-stamped by a token legislature in Stormont”.

No DR group has been able to lay claim to the soul of Republicanism to the degree the Provisional IRA did during the Troubles. This inability to embody the cultural heritage of the struggle against the British state is one reason why DR groups have enjoyed limited appeal among those with nationalist or republican leanings. The New IRA hopes to change that.

A political party launched in 2016 called Saoradh (“liberation”) gained support from New IRA prisoners in jails in Northern Ireland and the Republic and prominent activists.

Support for a new political party which, in turn, enjoys the support of senior figures within the Republican movement, suggests the New IRA may be seeking to establish itself as the inheritor of the provisionals’ legacy.

The Telegraph understands the MOD issued no new security advice but protocols and security procedures have been reiterated. The use of a code word is an indicator of the New IRA’S ambition and it could suggest some older generation terrorists with technical and operational know-how have become active once again; a significant development and cause for concern among the security forces.

The timing of the letter bombs could also indicate an attempt to counter the influence the DUP has had over Brexit negotiations. A source told The Telegraph: “They might want to send a message saying ‘Here’s a little reminder that we haven’t gone away.’”