Fortnight Publications Ltd.

Cross-Border BonhomieAuthor(s): Sean FlynnSource: Fortnight, No. 272 (Apr., 1989), p. 8Published by: Fortnight Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25551909 .

Accessed: 28/06/2014 17:51

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

Fortnight Publications Ltd. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Fortnight.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 92.63.103.2 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 17:51:13 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Cross-border bonhomie

j THE AIWINTIIENT of Hugh Annesley | has been well received in Dublin,

i where be is very welt known among ; senior Garda officer*. With the pending retirement of Sir John Hermon and the imminent departure of other contro versial figures* the Impression is that the RUC slate is being wiped clean.

And it is time for a fresh start. Despite the undoubted improve

j merits In cross-border co-operation, i personal relations between Garda and

i RUC officers have been unsettled

during the Hermon years?mainly due to the Dowra affair. In which the

Gardai suspected RUC officers of conspiring to prevent a full investigat ion; the Stalker/Sampson imbroglio,

which has confirmed suspicions in Dublin that some RUC officers regard i themselves as being above the law; and

i the occasional stinging criticism by senior RUC officers of their Garda

counterparts. Two years ago a briefing by the deputy chief constable, Michael

McAtamney, led to a very uncompli mentary portrayal of the Gardai In the

British press. These incidents have tarnished the

natural goodwill which should flow readily between both forces. In secur

ity circles in the Republic there is a

tremendous professional respect for the operational capacity of the RUC,

There Is also an appreciation of the

professionalism and commitment of most individual RUC officers. This is best exemplified at Garda conferences where Northern Ireland Police Federat

ion delegates always receive a resound

ing standing ovation.

In senior Garda circles* however, the natural desire to enjoy the best of terms with their RUC counterparts has been undermined by the rancour and

suspicions of the Hermon era.

When Hugh Annesley takes over in June this reservoir of Garda goodwill should he readily available to him. He is already well known to the senior

Garda command in Dublin, where one

officer described him as "very profess

^mimmz****0*" I

i

James MeGovem, the man at the

centre of the Dowra affair?Messrs

Hermon and Wren weren't smiling

ional in his work, and very charming on a personal basis. He is the kind of

person we can do business with?and best of all he is carrying no troubled

baggage with him into the job." Mr Annesleys police career is cert

ainly untouched by scandal. With dis

ciplinary proceedings now completed

against 20 RUC officers in the shoot to-kilT inquiry, he comes to a force

which is emerging from the shackles of its recent troubled history.

Better still, he will be dealing with a new Garda commissioner. Eugene Crowley, whose high reputation in RUC circles was enhanced last year when his investigation into the shooting of Aidan McAnespie effectively cleared the security forces of any impropriety.

Both men are quite unlikely to be

figures of division or controversy. And both the Northern Ireland Office and

the Department of Justice in Dublin can rest assured that neither man will create difficulties for them. It is all a

very long distance from the 1982-87

era, when both governments found themselves beholden to two resolutely

independent figures: Sir John Hermon

and the former Garda commissioner.

Larry Wren. All in all, it appears that personal

relations between the top brass in both forces are set for a period of unusual

harmony. To further cement this new

detente, all that remains is for Mr

Annesley to convince Dublin that he is

the man who can help the RUC to

bridge the sectarian divide. But that is another, and much mom

complex, difficulty.

The man behind the uniform

ar^pi IO MOVE from number three in a peaceful place to number one

m in Northern Ireland is very difficult." w. I That is the view of one senior British police officer with a

close knowledge of the RUC. He wishes Hugh Annesley well?indeed he

always thought the 49-year-old assistant commissioner of the Metropoli tan police would get Sir John Hermon's job, and he hopes he will "grow into" it. But he worries about his lack of "experience of top command".

The senior policeman said: "Hugh was number three at the Yard and

a relatively new number three at that. He had applied for a number of top

jobs in relatively small police forces."

It had been widely leaked months in advance that the 52-year-old West

Midlands chief constable, Geoffrey Dear, was the favourite for the RUC

hot-seat?which strongly suggests an NIO preference?and it is under

stood that the secretary of state, Tom King, wrote to the Northern Ireland

Police Authority to tell it just that. But the Police Authority decided otherwise. As an RUC source put it, "I think the Police Authority were

doing a bit of flexing their muscles."

Be that as it may, Mr Annesley apparently interviewed rather better

than Mr Dear. A former RUC member, now a middle-ranking officer in

Britain, said of the police chief in Britain's second city: "He was wanting it more or less as a stepping stone to the [Metropolitan police] commis

sioner's post, and I don't think that went down. They were looking for

somebody to give them ten years or so?and Annesley got it."

And whereas Mr Dear?described charitably by his rival as, after the

Metropolitan commissioner, Sir Peter Imbert, the "most distinguished" officer in the UK?was reluctant to move home and family to Northern

Ireland, Mr Annesley says he feels "culturally comfortable" in the

province. Mr Annesley can expect a baptism of fire from the Provos. But he can

anticipate a much better relationship with the ranks than his predecessor. The RUC source bewailed the failure of the "autocratic" Sir John to

consult. "I don't believe he thought he could make a mistake," he said.

And he added: "If he was difficult before [his wife's death] he was twice

as difficult afterwards. It affected him very much."

The officer repeated an alleged remark by Sir John which cannot be

reported for legal reasons, commenting: "This is what was so destructive

about his management style. I cannot imagine Hugh Annesley saying

anything like that."

He was very impressed by the new boy's performance at his first press conference in Carrickfergus, the day after his appointment was con

firmed. Certainly, even over a long interview, Sir John is a difficult man

to get clear answers from. But Mr Annesley fielded with ease a googly from the press corps.

Born in Dublin of Protestant parents?his father from the north, his

mother from the south?he was asked if he saw himself as British or Irish.

Mr Annesley suavely replied: "I am a senior British police officer of Irish

background." A related contrast with his predecessor lies in Mr Annesley's intellect

ual credentials. Sir John left school with fewer qualifications than any of

the other top-ranking officers in the RUC. But Mr Annesley, though he

resists the 'high-flyer' label, was picked out early for intellectual devel

opment. In 1962, after only four years as a constable in the Met, he was

selected for the senior command course at Bramshill Police College. As

the former chief constable of Devon and Cornwall, John Alderson, put it, "That really is a signal you are on your way."

Mr Annesley rose to chief supterintendent in the Met before becoming assistant chief constable of Sussex police in 1976. In 1979 his career made

another leap when he was picked to attend the exclusive Royal College of

8 April Fortnight

This content downloaded from 92.63.103.2 on Sat, 28 Jun 2014 17:51:13 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions