Suchergebnisse

Machine generated contents note:1.Ireland at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century --2.The Third Home Rule Act and the First World War --3.The Government of Ireland Act 1920 --4.The Anglo-Irish Treaty --5.The Politics of the Irish Boundary Commission --6.The Recommendations of the Irish Boundary Commission --7.Aftermath.

"In the period immediately after the First World War both the British Labour Party and revolutionary Irish nationalism were in a state of transition, metamorphosing from opposition towards becoming the governments of their respective states. In opposition Labour and the emergent forces in nationalist Ireland had a broadly sympathetic relationship with each other. However, the Labour leadership was always aware of the political risks in Britain of too close an identification with militant Irish nationalism. In government for the first time in 1924 it was determined to establish its credibility as a prudent, responsible and patriotic governing party. Its relationship with the new Irish Free State was predicated on this principle to the extent that Labour's Irish policy became little different to that of previous British governments particularly on the controversial question of the Irish Boundary Commission"--

The first ever Labour government in Britain took office in February 1924. Its prime concern during its brief 10-month period in office was to stress its legitimacy and political credibility. In the Irish Free State the fledgling Cumann na nGaedheal government of W. T. Cosgrave had emerged victorious from civil war and was likewise determined to stress its legitimacy. An inordinate amount of time and energy during 1924 was spent attempting to wrestle with the final unfinished element of the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty - the permanent establishment of the boundary between north and south to be determined by a Boundary Commission set up under Article 12 of the Treaty. The Labour government, determined not allow the Irish issue to re-emerge in British politics, employed a legalistic approach, which was bedeviled by Northern Ireland's obduracy in refusing to appoint a representative to the Boundary Commission. Labour referred the matter to adjudication by the Privy Council, seeking guidance on whether the British government could appoint for Ulster, whether the Commission would be valid without a northern representative and whether decisions were required to be a majority or unanimous. When the Privy Council ruled that the Commission would not be legal without a northern representative, amending legislation had to be passed in both the House of Commons and Dail Eireann allowing Britain to appoint for Northern Ireland, after which a majority rather than unanimity would suffice. All of this, considered by many in nationalist Ireland to demonstrate prevarication, delay and bad faith on behalf of the British Labour government, caused considerable political embarrassment to Cosgrave not only from anti-Treaty republicans but also from Irish Labour and government TDs in Dail Eireann. Adapted from the source document.

Immediately after the First World War the British Labour Party was forced to reconsider its relationship with an increasingly militant Irish nationalism. This reassessment occurred at the same time as it was becoming a major political and electoral force in post‐war Britain. The political imperative from the party's perspective was to portray itself as a responsible, moderate and patriotic alternative governing party. Thus it was fearful of the potential negative impact of too close an association with, and perceived sympathy for, extreme Irish nationalism. This explains the party's often bewildering changes in policy on Ireland at various party conferences in 1919 and 1920, ranging from support for home rule to federalism throughout the United Kingdom to 'dominion home rule' as part of a wider evolving British Commonwealth to adopting outright ' self‐determination' for a completely independent Ireland outside both United Kingdom and empire. On one aspect of its Irish policy, however, the party was adamant and united – its opposition to the partition of Ireland, which was the fundamental principle of Lloyd George's Government of Ireland Bill of 1920 which established Northern Ireland. Curiously, that aspect of Labour's Irish policy was never discussed in the party at large. All the running was made by the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) in the house of commons in 1920. The PLP's outright opposition to the bill acted as balm throughout the wider party, binding together the confusing, and often contradictory, positions promulgated on the long‐term constitutional future of Ireland and its relationship with Britain.