Friends of Ireland (UK)

Last updated

The Friends of Ireland was a group of British Labour Party Members of Parliament in support of the ending of the partition of Ireland.

The group was founded in 1945 by Hugh Delargy. Delargy became its secretary, while Henry McGhee and Richard Stokes were appointed as joint treasurers. Delargy immediately wrote to Anthony Mulvey of the new Anti-Partition League of Ireland (APL), stating that he intended for the two groups to work together. [1] However, the two groups had some differing views; the Friends of Ireland were also happy to work with the Northern Ireland Labour Party and believed that the ultimate answer to the social problems of Catholics in Northern Ireland was socialism, while the Anti-Partition League accused the British Labour government of having "Tory attitudes" and saw the reunification as the ultimate answer. [2]

Other active members of the Friends included Geoffrey Bing, William Foster, John Haire, Valentine McEntee and H. B. Morgan. Membership totalled 30 in 1945, and 120 in 1948, but most of the membership was purely nominal. [2]

In the British House of Commons, the group attempted to raise concerns about social conditions and the freedom of opposition groups to meet and campaign in Northern Ireland, but these were usually ruled out of order by the Speaker. The debate on the Northern Ireland Act 1947, was the best opportunity for this, and Delargy and Anthony Mulvey of the Nationalist Party, while not opposing the Act, co-operated in raising objections about the Government of Northern Ireland. However, the Ireland Act 1949 marked a split between the Friends and the APL, with leading members of the friends criticising the Government of Ireland declaration of a republic. [2]

The APL decided to stand candidates against Labour in areas with large Irish populations at the 1950 general election, and Delargy dissociated himself from the APL, with the Friends then disintegrating. [2]

Related Research Articles

Politics of the United Kingdom Political system of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The United Kingdom is a unitary state with devolution that is governed within the framework of a parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy in which the monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II, is the head of state while the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, currently Boris Johnson, is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the British government, on behalf of and by the consent of the monarch, and the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Legislative power is vested in the two chambers of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the House of Commons and the House of Lords, as well as in the Scottish and Welsh parliaments. The British political system is a two party system. Since the 1920s, the two dominant parties have been the Conservative Party and the Labour Party. Before the Labour Party rose in British politics, the Liberal Party was the other major political party, along with the Conservatives. While coalition and minority governments have been an occasional feature of parliamentary politics, the first-past-the-post electoral system used for general elections tends to maintain the dominance of these two parties, though each has in the past century relied upon a third party, such as the Liberal Democrats, to deliver a working majority in Parliament. A Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition government held office from 2010 until 2015, the first coalition since 1945. The coalition ended following parliamentary elections on 7 May 2015, in which the Conservative Party won an outright majority of seats, 330 of the 650 seats in the House of Commons, while their coalition partners lost all but eight seats.

Parliament of Northern Ireland Home rule legislature created in 1921

The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended because of its inability to restore order during The Troubles, resulting in the introduction of Direct Rule. It was abolished under the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973.

History of Northern Ireland From around 1920 to the present, concerning one of the constituent entities of the UK

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom,, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It was created as a separate legal entity on 3 May 1921, under the Government of Ireland Act 1920. The new autonomous Northern Ireland was formed from six of the nine counties of Ulster: four counties with unionist majorities – Antrim, Armagh, Down, and Londonderry – and two counties with slight Irish nationalist majorities – Fermanagh and Tyrone – in the 1918 General Election. The remaining three Ulster counties with larger nationalist majorities were not included. In large part unionists, at least in the north-east, supported its creation while nationalists were opposed.

Irish nationalism Political movement asserting the sovereignty of the Irish people

Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish Nationalism has largely taken the form of civic nationalism based on the principles of national self-determination and popular sovereignty. Irish nationalists during the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries such as the United Irishmen in the 1790s, Young Irelanders in the 1840s, Fenian Brotherhood during the 1880s, Fianna Fáil in the 1920s, and Sinn Féin styled themselves in various ways after French left-wing radicalism and republicanism. Irish nationalism celebrates the culture of Ireland, especially the Irish language, literature, music, and sports. It grew more potent during the period in which all of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom, which led to most of the island gaining independence from the UK in 1921.

Irish republicanism is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate.

Northern Ireland Labour Party Political party in Northern Ireland

The Northern Ireland Labour Party (NILP) was a political party in Northern Ireland which operated from 1924 until 1987.

Abstentionism is standing for election to a deliberative assembly while refusing to take up any seats won or otherwise participate in the assembly's business. Abstentionism differs from an election boycott in that abstentionists participate in the election itself. Abstentionism has been used by Irish republican political movements in the United Kingdom and Ireland since the early 19th century. It was also used by Hungarian and Czech nationalists in the Austrian Imperial Council in the 1860s.

The Connolly Association is an organisation based among Irish emigrants in Britain which supports the aims of Irish republicanism. It takes its name from James Connolly, a socialist republican, born in Edinburgh, Scotland and executed by the British Army for his part in the 1916 Easter Rising.

Joseph Devlin Irish journalist and politician

Joseph Devlin was an Irish journalist and influential nationalist politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Irish Parliamentary Party in the House of Commons and later a Nationalist Party MP in the Parliament of Northern Ireland. Devlin was referred to as "duodecimo Demosthenes" by Tim Healy. He never married.

The Irish Anti-Partition League (APL) was a political organisation based in Northern Ireland which campaigned for a united Ireland from 1945 to 1958.

Henry Cassidy Midgley, PC (NI), known as Harry Midgley was a prominent trade-unionist and politician in Northern Ireland. Born to a working-class Protestant family in Tiger's Bay, north Belfast, he followed his father into the shipyard. After serving on the Western Front in the Great War, he became an official in a textile workers union and a leading light in the Belfast Labour Party (BLP). He represented the party's efforts in the early 1920s to provide a left opposition to the Unionist government of the new Northern Ireland while remaining non-committal on the divisive question of Irish partition.

Hugh James Delargy was a Labour Party politician and MP.

Eddie McAteer Irish politician

Eddie McAteer was an Irish nationalist politician in Northern Ireland.

The Nationalist Party was the continuation of the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP), and was formed after the partition of Ireland, by the Northern Ireland-based members of the IPP.

Michael Keogh, known as Max Keogh ,was a nationalist politician and journalist in Northern Ireland.

Malachy Conlon was a nationalist politician in Ireland.

The National League of the North (NLN) was an Irish nationalist organisation active in Northern Ireland.

The Northern Council for Unity was an Irish republican political party founded in 1937 by Anthony Mulvey.

The Irish Dominion League was an Irish political party and movement in Britain and Ireland which advocated Dominion status for Ireland within the British Empire, and opposed partition of Ireland into separate southern and northern jurisdictions. It attracted modest support from middle-class Dubliners of moderate unionist and nationalist backgrounds, anxious to achieve a compromise in the face of the escalating conflict between the Irish Republican Army and the British. It operated between 1919 and 1921.

References

  1. Brendan Lyng, Holding the Ground: The Nationalist Party in Northern Ireland, 1945-72, p.28
  2. 1 2 3 4 Bob Purdie, "The Friends of Ireland", in: Tom Gallagher, Contemporary Irish Studies, pp.81-94