A History of Ireland in Song

Airey Neave

Airey Neave (1917-1979), MP, OBE. British politician.

Joined the British army on the coming of the Second World War. A 2nd Lieutenant, he fought at Calais in 1940 before being captured. He was one of very few men ever to escape from the German POW camp "Colditz". On his return to England, he worked for military intelligence. Called to the bar in 1943, in 1946 he was one of the British legal team at the the Nürnberg Trials. He entered parliament in 1953 and subsequently held junior ministerial posts. His importance in the Tory party belies his undistinguished public career; for he was one of the major players behind the scenes in that party for decades. This earned him the acute dislike of some other members of the party, who expressed contempt for "the hole-and-corner plotter". In fact he may well have been a member of the shadowy "secret state" in post-war Britain — a reading of Lobster and, remarkably, a search of Hansard (!), certainly turns up some hair-raising allegations.

Neave was one of the moving forces in the Tory party behind the rise of Margaret Thatcher. He was also instrumental, with Ian Gow and others, in formulating the British policy that would be followed in Ireland throughout the 1980s. In 1979, he was made Shadow Secretary for Northern Ireland. His oft-proclaimed commitment to "freedom" seems not to have extended to Ireland, where he favouring hanging Republicans and re-introducing that most Nazi of institutions, the concentration camp. Public airing of these opinions, and his importance within the British state, made him a prime target for Irish Republicans. He was assassinated by the INLA on 30th March, 1979.

[Home] [A History of Ireland in Song] [Links] [Support] [Contact]