The Return of the Cairo Gang: Britain’s Plan for Ireland

The start of this month saw a report from Policy Exchange, founded by the likes of Michael Gove, which had its foreword written by two “Lords” - one formerly Secretary of State for Defence and the other also having been a Secretary of State for Defence and a former Secretary General for NATO.

In this report, the authors argued that Britain needs to deploy military forces into the North of Ireland again, as Britain’s satellite State lacks any meaningful military defence capacity. The British military and intelligence establishment refer to the “stubborn shibboleth of neutrality” which the Irish State follows as a roadblock to their strategic ambitions.

Not content with having a RUC man staffing the Garda Commissioner role, with his Cairo gang of supporters also parachuted into senior roles, the report goes on to claim that “Having signalled its renewed strategic focus on Northern Ireland, the UK can make known its interests – and willingness to assist, in an equitable manner – in the ROI’s security problems.”  It is quite obvious that the desire of Britain’s establishment would be to have British officials involved in the running of the State. Not simply in order to subdue any Republican outside of their local garrison class of Provisional Sinn Féin, but likely to forestall any successful right-wing nationalist movement emerging.

Britain’s intelligence agencies have for many decades wrecked and ruined attempts at creating successful nationalist movements in Britain. No doubt the emergence of an Irish Front National or AfD on their flank would be something they would like to avoid - they have already taken the tentative steps of doing so through groups like the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, in attempting to curate narratives and fearmongering.

What then are the implications of such a policy on Ireland, Irish nationalism and the Irish State?  

There are, I think, three distinct answers. Firstly the Irish State would simply be subsumed into Britain’s intelligence network. Britain would set the tone on strategic security for the State. Given the clear lack of any strategic thinking culture in the Dáil beyond “let’s give more money to Africa”, there would not be any real change to the lives of most people living in the country.

However, Irish nationalism would surely feel the brunt. While a handful of Guards are monitoring Telegram and Twitter, and no doubt publications such as these, they have certain technical limitations. No doubt these limitations are in some areas significantly better and significantly worse than most would know, giving Britain’s agencies free reign would see harassment and dirty tricks campaigns that would make the Americans blush. Right now, our biggest obstacle to a successful Nationalist movement emerging is our own side being unable to sideline imbeciles. If Ireland acquiesces to Britain’s security posture, we’ll all end up in the same prison cells together.

For Ireland, it would be another nail in the concept of Nationhood. After expending the lifeblood of Irish nationalists on at least five separate conflicts in the last century, to allow Britain’s establishment to again rule the island, directly and indirectly as the case may be, would be a reversal the Irish Nation may not survive.