Strand 2: ‘Tension on Demand’: July

Abstract

Sir Ninian Stephen convened the first meeting of Strand 2 at 2pm on Monday 6 July, in the Music Room of Lancaster House in London. He sat at the head of the table, with his assistant, the Australian civil servant George Thompson. On their left sat the Alliance delegation (Alderdice, Close, Morrow and Neeson), then the Irish government representatives (Andrews, John Wilson, the Tanaiste and Minister of Defence, Padraig Flynn, Minister of Justice, and Bobby Molloy, the Energy Minister who was standing in for Des O’Malley, the leader of the Progressive Democrats and Minister for Industry and Commerce), and finally the SDLP (Hume, Mallon, McGrady and Hendron). To Stephen’s immediate right sat the UUP delegates (Molyneaux, Nicholson, Maginnis and Chris McGimpsey), then the British government (Mayhew, Hanley, John Chilcott, the Permanent Under- Secretary at the NIO, and David Fell, the head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service), and beside them the DUP (Paisley, Robinson, James McClure and Simpson Gibson). Even the seating was a matter for negotiation, as Stephen recalled: