It is hard to credit now, but 43 years ago a “junta” backed by paramilitary muscle rendered an entire region of the United Kingdom ungovernable and humiliated the government. The leader of that remarkable insurrection was Glenn Barr, a loyalist from Northern Ireland who would spend much of his later life working for peace and reconciliation in his divided province.
The trigger was the so-called Sunningdale Agreement of 1973, a peace initiative promoted by Edward Heath’s Conservative government in an attempt to end Northern Ireland’s escalating violence. It established a power-sharing executive at Stormont and offered Dublin a say in the governance of the province through a Council of Ireland.
The agreement was supported by Brian Faulkner, the Ulster Unionist Party leader, but bitterly opposed