Willie Carlin, MI5 agent-running and clandestine diplomacy in Northern Ireland

An intriguing new source on intelligence operations in Northern Ireland emerged this month with the publication of Thatcher's Spy by Willie Carlin, an MI5 agent who was active in Sinn Féin in Derry in the 1980s.

I haven't yet read the book, but Carlin's interview with Sam McBride of the News Letter provoked some thoughts which I will try to follow up when I can get hold of a copy. I was particularly struck by this passage on Carlin's role in Martin McGuinness's election to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1982.

I relayed back to my new handlers how Martin had been reluctant to  stand, but Mitchel was working behind the scenes with Gerry Adams, Tom Hartley and others to bring McGuinness around and convince him.”

He  said that it became clear that the British agencies were keen to  facilitate – not stop – Mr McGuinness’s rise through the republican  ranks and then his move into politics. 

“A few days before the  election I had a routine meeting at Ebrington Barracks with my contact John. During the meeting he introduced me to a man named Alec from London (who was not military).

“He was very interested in how I  thought Sinn Féin would do at the election and was absolutely over the  moon when I told him of our plan to get Martin elected. Alec made it  clear to me that it was imperative that ‘Martin McGuinness gets elected  to the Northern Ireland Assembly’.

I have long been suspicious of suggestions that the political growth of Sinn Féin and hence the peace process was a result of intelligence manipulation, for reasons which I outlined in a 2012 openDemocracy article, The Conspiracy Theory of the Peace Process is a Dangerous Myth.