Despite Rishi Sunak dropping the Northern Ireland protocol, more challenges to the peace process are on the horizon
- Peter Hain was secretary of state for Northern Ireland 2005-2007
When those bitter blood enemies, Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness, finally agreed to share power amicably together in 2007, it was one of those “it’ll never happen” moments. The 2007 agreement I helped negotiate under Tony Blair ended a five-year suspension of the Northern Ireland assembly.
So, too, was the 1998 Good Friday agreement, celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, which sealed the end of the Troubles – those terrible decades of terror and horror, the most recent and tragic manifestation of generations of violent inter-communal division in Northern Ireland.
Peter Hain was secretary of state for Northern Ireland 2005-2007
