William Matchett: Collusion is more than a word, it is Brits-out populism and fake news

In Through the Looking Glass and what Alice Found There, the fantasy has an arrogant character in a scornful tone manipulating a word to mean whatever he chooses.

Brits-out republicanism is hate-filled, intolerant and must hold history’s pen.

A common misbelief is the Stevens Enquiry of loyalist murder victim Pat Finucane (1989) created a collusion word that tainted intelligence-led policing.

Special Branch (London and Dublin) running informers and managing intelligence is much earlier — collusion date stamped 1866.

A citizen helping police to prevent murder is the concept that is now being attacked.

After the Fenians, with lots of green monstrosities in-between, a sectarian Provo mix of terrorism (Provisional Irish Republican Army - PIRA) and propaganda (Provisional Sinn Fein - PSF) in 1969 opened a 30-year crime scene of mass murder, extensive criminal damage and deceit.

The Provo strain of republicanism was deadlier and more fraudulent than its predecessors.

It executed ‘informers’ for collusive acts, then excused, denied or bragged about the killing. Fearful of the Provo plague, people did not call 999.They called Special Branch.

In 1973 the Provos pilloried nationalist leader Gerry Fitt who blamed PIRA for sectarian killings by loyalists. Fitt knew PIRA was the aggressor, and if they stopped, loyalists would also stop. He saw Provo republicanism as a divisive virus. Loudly rebuking him, PSF faulted the “professional killers in the British Army and Special Branch”.

‘Collusion with the British’ alongside the security forces colluding with loyalists are slurs that sealed Fitt’s fate.

The crux of the collusion meaning here revolves around a wicked Special Branch that wields a bigoted constabulary, brutal soldiers and loyalist thugs to murder innocent Catholics.

Tarnishing Special Branch is designed to blacken the entire security forces and security policy.

Fitt lost his seat in an election where even corpses voted for Gerry Adams.

Forced out of the country he loved, Fitt’s exit ended any hope of nationalism finding a spine to support the police, as he had been urging.

Had his advice been taken, which supported that of the world’s top policing experts (think two-jabs) and fell on nationalist deaf ears (think anti-vaxxers), I would not be typing this article.

To defame a brave politician who appealed to both sides needed no evidence. Malicious rumour was enough.

Collusion buttresses the big Provo lie that PIRA murder was not wrong. They are interwoven falsehoods.

It is no coincidence that the collusion saga mirrored the spectacular ‘peace process’ ride of a Sinn Fein party, many of them ex-Provos and including some of the planet’s best propagandists.

Most victims of the 30-year crime scene were those touched by PIRA’s trail of terror. Their families, the frontline and others of Fitt’s ilk see the ugly lies, thus relegating them in importance.

The latest verbal contort is the ‘collusive behaviours’. Used by the Police Ombudsman, it joins several others, starting with Stevens.

So wide-ranging is the word that it seems it can mean whatever a legacy probe wants it to mean.

Having failed to gather evidence to prosecute the awful crimes collusion implies that the Ombudsman has shifted from evidence gathering to a blend of lessons learned and truth recovery, or what I would argue is storytelling.

The shift saw the Ombudsman disappear down a rabbit hole in reports that reject the science of policing a terrorism pandemic.

Of late, Ombudsman legacy reports focused on loyalists in 1993 and 1994. Both years fall within the period 1990 to 1994, after the Stevens Enquiry when loyalist murders spiked sharply. Before Stevens, loyalist terrorism was well contained and on a downward dip.

In the eight-years before Stevens, one person was killed for ‘informing’.

It was five in the same period after. Two of the latter victims are credited with the recovery of extensive amounts of weapons and munitions and the arrests and convictions of top loyalist terrorists.

In Secret Victory I wrote: “A new breed of loyalists, like Johnny ‘Mad Dog’ Adair used Stevens to expose those they suspected of informing. Stevens was the means to get rid of an old guard infiltrated by SB. The Cambridgeshire police officer had played into the hands of loyalism’s hard men and impeded SB’s capacity to prevent loyalist terrorism, which more than doubled after Stevens.”

Or as one Adair-type figure put it.

“John Stevens did us a favour. He got rid of the touts.”

Yet, in collusion probes of loyalist murders in this 5-year period, the Stevens surge is missing. So are PIRA and anti-vaxxers, who then brazenly appear to praise collusion findings and want more. Evaporated, Fitt realism, such as a world-leading 85% prevention rate of terrorist attacks.

Imagine if the BBC left out significant data and facts in how to prevent the spread of the coronavirus? Or employed novices as pundits who determined policy? What would the death toll be then?

Legacy world paints a partial and subjective picture. The glaring omissions would not be an issue in a criminal investigation pursuing crimes defined in law. But remember, such investigations are not the role of the Police Ombudsman.

Collusion is more than a word — it is Brits-out populism, fake news and a political wedge with sectarian origins.

“The question is, whether you can make words mean so many different things?” Said a shocked Alice. “The question is, which is to be master. That’s all.” Replied the pompous Humpty Dumpty.

• William Matchett is author of Secret Victory: The Intelligence War that Beat the IRA

——— ———

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers — and consequently the revenue we receive — we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Ireland and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Ben Lowry

Acting Editor